#277 ASA PLAY ON Oklahoma State Money Line -105 over Notre Dame, Sunday at 1:00 PM ET - Our power ratings have OSU as the favorite here so we feel the value is on the Cowboys. The Okie State defense ranks 3rd nationally behind only Georgia and Wisconsin. They are equally proficient at stopping the run (5th nationally) and the pass (10th). Facing a fairly pedestrian Notre Dame offense ranked 43rd in YPP and 56th in total offense. The Irish closed out the regular season facing 3 defenses ranked 114th or lower and faced just 2 top 25 defenses this season. In those games they averaged just 3.5 YPP (vs Wisconsin) and 4.6 YPP (vs Cincinnati). The ND QB Coan is not a someone that can carry a team on his shoulders without a decent running game. They averaged 151 YPG rushing this year but that won’t happen in this game facing an OSU defense that allows 2.7 YPC. On top of that the Irish are without their top RB Williams who has over 1,000 yards rushing and nearly 400 yards receiving. They will struggle offensively in this game. The Cowboy offense, on the other hand, gets a key component back on their offense with RB Warren returning (1,200 yards rushing and 11 TD’s). He missed the Big 12 Championship game which was a 21-16 loss vs Baylor. The Cowboys outplayed the Bears in that game outgaining them by almost 100 yards, but 4 turnovers killed. That included 2 interceptions that led to quick TD drives of 11 yards and 37 yards by the Bears. OSU has played the tougher schedule (9th SOS to 47th for ND) and they still have the better numbers (+130 YPG and +1.1 YPP differential compared to Notre Dame +77 YPG and +0.9 YPP). OSU coach Gundy is experienced in coach bowl games and has done well with a 10-5 ATS record while new ND HC Freeman has never led his team in a bowl game. OSU is the better team with the better defense and getting points. We’ll take that.