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By Max Meyer

There are three college football games taking place over the next few days where teams with three combined losses or fewer will square off. Two of them are the College Football Playoff semifinals. The other? The Fiesta Bowl between 11-2 Oklahoma State and 11-1 Notre Dame in the first battle ever between these squads.

Caesars Sportsbook and the Fiesta Bowl announced a first-of-its-kind sports betting and fantasy gaming partnership with a college football bowl game back in August. And the inaugural matchup under this agreement is certainly an intriguing one.

The No. 5-ranked Irish will have Marcus Freeman making his debut as head coach. Freeman was serving in his first season as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator before taking over the top job when Brian Kelly left for LSU. He has a great opportunity to make an opening statement on New Year’s Day, as the Irish have lost nine straight major bowl games, including CFP and BCS national championship games.

“I don’t think a first-time head coach has any importance to the spread,” said Adam Pullen, Assistant Director of Trading at Caesars Sportsbook. “Freeman has been a coach for a while and he’s been with the team all season. I’m sure the players are happy that he’s the coach and they’ll be looking to make a good impression on him. But I don’t think him making his head coaching debut factors into the line or gives an edge to Oklahoma State. A lot of coaching staffs are multi-faceted, where you have a lot of people making decisions and it’s not just one person doing everything.”

The No. 9-ranked Cowboys are coming off a 21-16 defeat to Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game, which was their first loss to a conference foe this season. Oklahoma State’s last victory in a New Year’s Six bowl came back in the 2012 Fiesta Bowl, where the Cowboys outlasted Stanford 41-38 in overtime.

Notre Dame opened as a 2.5-point favorite, with the line reaching as low as -1.5 a couple times. The Irish (-135 on the moneyline) are back to -2.5 against the Cowboys (+115 ML), with the total rising from its original number of 44.5 to a current standing of 45.5.

“I actually think Oklahoma State’s the better team, I made them a small favorite,” Pullen said. “The Big 12 is a tough conference and I rate them quite highly in terms of strength of conference. If you throw out Kansas, every game is a battle. But Notre Dame has the name and they’re only a small favorite, so I’m not surprised they’re getting most of the action so far. Their recent history in these big bowl games hasn’t been good, but every game and every year is different.”

The Irish have captured 71% of the total number of tickets and 70% of the total dollars wagered among all spread wagers in the Fiesta Bowl. Notre Dame also has the advantage with 60% of the total dollars wagered for all moneyline bets, whereas Oklahoma State leads with 59% of the total number of tickets in that department.

Caesars Sportsbook bettors are also divided on the total. While the over has nabbed 65% of the total number of tickets, the under has seized 63% of the total dollars wagered.

“When I did my numbers I made this total at 46, so it’s right there with that,” Pullen said. “Oklahoma State’s defense was great throughout the season, so it makes sense that it’s this low. Notre Dame offensively will be without Kyren Williams, which doesn’t help them. Total seems about right to me, not sure which way I would go with this.”

Check out Caesars Sportsbook’s latest odds and trends for the upcoming Fiesta Bowl showdown between Oklahoma State and Notre Dame below.