Fiesta Bowl Odds and Betting History

The PlayStation Fiesta Bowl is played yearly in the metropolitan Phoenix area. Along with the big college football game, the Fiesta Bowl Parade makes its way through the downtown area complete with marching bands, floats and Arizona celebrities like Randy “the Big Unit” Johnson, Shane Doan and Kurt Warner.

Here you’ll find Fiesta Bowl odds, betting analysis and everything you need to make your picks for this College Football Playoff game.

Betting History of the Fiesta Bowl

The Western Athletic Conference watched its champions miss out on bowl invites in 1968 and 1969. If that wasn’t enough heartache, an undefeated Arizona State squad had to settle for the Peach Bowl in 1970 – this was a big deal back in the day. After all that, the Fiesta Bowl was born because everyone loves a good fiesta as much as they love millions of peaches.

The inaugural game in 1971 pitted a 9-1 ASU team against 8-2 Florida State. In a sign of things to come, the Sun Devils knocked off the Seminoles in a 45-38 thriller. ASU won four of the first five bowl games on its home field in Tempe, Arizona. Their last appearance came in 1983, when they defeated Oklahoma.

During the intervening decades, the game shifted conference allegiance from the WAC (1971-1980) to an at-large system with the Power Five conferences sending top-tier talent. From 1980 through today, the Fiesta Bowl has featured two AP Top 25-ranked teams every year except 1995 when No. 4-ranked Colorado beat unranked Notre Dame. You know what else happened that year? Michael Jordan unretired and the cost of a loaf of bread was $2.02.

Over time, the Fiesta Bowl has become an increasingly prominent postseason spectacle, beginning with the 1987 edition. That year, top-ranked Miami battled second-ranked Penn State. In a showdown of 11-0 juggernauts – also a great name for a wrestling tag team – the Nittany Lions prevailed 12-10 to capture the de facto national championship.

One of college football’s most memorable upsets occurred in 2007 when undefeated Boise State was a 7-point underdog against Oklahoma but won outright in a 43-42 overtime nail-biter. As for favorites, they covered easily on the betting lines in 2015 and 2016, but dogs won outright in the two prior editions of the game.

The 2018 version featured No. 11-ranked Washington taking on No. 9-ranked Penn State. This marked the first Fiesta Bowl appearance for the Huskies. With the total set at 54.5 and the home spread at -3.0, the final score was 35-28 for the Nittany Lions. Those who took the OVER were able to win their totals bets and point spread bettors who took Penn State to cover were able to clean up too.

On January 1, 2019, the No. 11-ranked LSU Tigers (9-3) and the No. 8-ranked UCF Knights (12-0) battled it out. With the total set at 58, OVER bettors found themselves in a fit of glee as the collective score was 72, 14 points higher than the sportsbooks’ total. With a home spread of +7.5, LSU covered easily, with the help of its stellar offense and a defense that seemed to take a bit of a nap during the second half of the game, yet still managed to keep UCF’s time of possession to 15:29. This also marked the first time these football programs ever met.

2019 Fiesta Bowl Odds

The current iteration of the game takes place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale – did you know that every time a State Farm commercial airs, Aaron Rodgers gets his wings? This year will see the Ohio State take on Clemson. Both teams boast a 13-0 record. For up-to-date odds and line movements, check out our matchup page.

How to Bet on the Fiesta Bowl

Betting on any college football game, whether it’s a bowl game or regular-season matchup, you’ll need a basic understanding of how odds work and a simple betting strategy.

These are the betting types we suggest you make on the Fiesta Bowl:

• A moneyline bet on the Fiesta Bowl involves picking a winner

• A totals bet means you predict if the total combined score from both teams will be OVER or UNDER a certain amount

• Point spread betting requires you to decide if the favorite or the underdog is going to win or lose by a set number of points

• Props are bets made on individual players (how many rushing yards will so-and-so have, how many sacks will so-and-so have, etc.), and non-football related things like who will win the coin toss

• Parlays let you combine multiple bets on one betting ticket

Fiesta Bowl Bites

• In 1996, BYU students and professors burned bags of Tostitos to protest their fifth-ranked team not receiving an invite to the Fiesta Bowl.

• This bowl has awarded the MVP title to many future NFLers like Deshaun Watson, Alex Smith, Tedy Bruschi and Matt Millen.

• NCAA Division I FBS Independent schools have made the most appearances in the Fiesta Bowl with 20.