“Nothing to lose”: College GameDay host points out the most interesting aspect of Arizona State’s Texas prep

No. 3-ranked Texas and No. 12-ranked Arizona State will compete in the Peach Bowl on New Year's Day at 1 p.m. ET. It is also a second-round matchup in the College Football Playoff.

Heading into the game, the Longhorns are big favorites to win. While the Sun Devils earned a bye through the first round after winning the Big 12 Championship, they are not favored to beat Texas.

However, with no pressure on them, analyst Desmond Howard talked about an interesting aspect of their preparation on ESPN on Wednesday morning. He talked about how the Sun Devils are under no pressure and have used trash-talking to their advantage:

"I think talking about pressure on quarterbacks how about Quinn Ewers and Texas? Played very well against Clemson but this is another big matchup. You're talking about Arizona State team, they have nothing to lose. They're playing with house money and there's a lot of chirping coming out of their camp, talking about they think they're better than Texas.

"(Sam) Leavitt, their quarterback says he's better than Texas's quarterback. So, these guys are coming in with a bunch of confidence. And not only are they chirping but then their coach is backing it up, 'I just want my guys to beat their guys.' So I think Texas better come to play because Arizona State I think they want to make a statement. They're out on a mission in this game."

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How much of an underdog is Arizona State against Texas?

While Arizona State is the only conference champion among these two teams, there is no denying that it is the underdog. The Longhorns play in a relatively competitive conference, the SEC, and while they lost twice this year, both losses were to No. 2-ranked Georgia. The Sun Devils also have two losses, but they were to unranked teams, Texas Tech and Cincinnati.

As a result, DraftKings has the Sun Devils as a +390 underdog in this second-round matchup. Conversely, the Longhorns are a -520 favorite to win. The winner of the Peach Bowl will advance to the Cotton Bowl in the CFP semifinals.

They will play the winner of the Rose Bowl, which takes place later in the day at 5 p.m. ET. The Rose Bowl is between the No. 1-ranked and undefeated Oregon Ducks and No. 6-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.