While the college football season has already kicked off, nothing hits like the first major slate of the season.
It’s an absolutely loaded Saturday of games with every top 5 team in action. No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Ohio State battle each other in Columbus at 12 p.m. ET on FOX, while No. 4 Clemson also has a tricky matchup against No. 9 LSU at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Between those two matchups alone, you have three of the top five teams in terms of championship odds (Texas the +475 favorite, Ohio State second at +500 and Clemson fifth at +900) as well as four of the top five players for Heisman odds (Texas QB Arch Manning the +500 favorite, LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier second at +700, Clemson QB Cade Klubnik third at +800 and Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith tied for fourth at +1000) at Caesars Sportsbook.
The other matchups involving top 5 teams are No. 2 Penn State hosting Nevada at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+ and No. 5 Georgia facing off against Marshall at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
In addition to a monster day of Week 1 of college football, the Saturday sports calendar also includes a full 15-game MLB slate and four WNBA contests in the league’s final Saturday of the regular season. Below is a snapshot of what to watch and bet at the top sportsbooks on Saturday, Aug. 30. All times Eastern.
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CFB best bets today, where to watch
Texas at Ohio State
Time: 12 p.m. | Location: Columbus, OH | TV: FOX | Stream: Fubo (try for free)
SportsLine picks — Model: Under 47.5 points | Expert: Under 47.5 points (Bruce Marshall)
We have agreement between man and machine with the Under for this top 5 showdown. The SportsLine projection model has an average final score of 45 points in its 10,000 simulations for this contest, going Under 47.5 points 57.0% of the time. Meanwhile, Marshall explains that, “We have seen a real Under trend in the early going for college football, not altogether surprising as offenses are often behind defenses at this time of the year. Unless Arch Manning and Julian Sayin hit the ground running against defenses that ranked in the top 10 last year, and save for special teams or defensive TDs, we doubt this one clears 47.”
LSU at Clemson
Time: 7 p.m. | Location: Clemson, SC | TV: ABC | Stream: Fubo (try for free)
SportsLine picks — Model: LSU money line +149 | Expert: LSU +4 (Thomas Casale)
The SportsLine projection model and one of our top SportsLine college football experts are backing the same team here. LSU pulls off the outright upset in 57% of the model’s simulations, making LSU’s money line a B-graded selection. Casale has opted to take the points with the underdog, saying, “I make Clemson -2 at home. I was going to pass at -3. Now that the line is over a field goal, it’s time to strike. This is the most talented LSU team on both sides of the ball since Brian Kelly arrived in Baton Rouge.”
More CFB best bets:
MLB best bets today, where to watch
Mariners at Guardians
Time: 7:15 p.m. | Location: Cleveland | TV: FOX | Stream: Fubo (try for free)
SportsLine pick — Model pick: Guardians run line +1.5 (-147)
The Mariners currently hold the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League, and they’re four games up on the Guardians heading into Saturday. Cleveland rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat Seattle 5-4 on Steven Kwan’s walk-off sacrifice fly in the first battle of the series on Friday. The Mariners will send out Logan Gilbert (4-5, 3.69 ERA) for Saturday’s meeting, while the Guardians will counter with Gavin Williams (8-5, 3.36 ERA). The SportsLine projection model suggests backing the Cleveland run line, with the Guardians covering +1.5 (-147) in 62% of simulations to bring value to these odds on this B-graded selection.
More MLB best bets
WNBA best bets today, where to watch
Liberty at Mercury
Time: 10 p.m. | Location: Phoenix | TV: NBA TV | Stream: Fubo (try for free)
SportsLine pick — | Experts: Alyssa Thomas Over 14.5 points (Calvin Wetzel and Aaron Barzilai)
The fourth-place Mercury are just a half game ahead of the fifth-place Liberty in the WNBA standings, with the team that ends up in fourth place being the final one to have home-court advantage in the first round. SportsLine experts Calvin Wetzel and Aaron Barzilai have identified a trend that continues to cash. In the last 11 games where the Mercury are favored by three points or fewer OR if they’re underdogs, Thomas has scored at least 15+ points 10 times. They also say that Thomas has “hit at least 17 in all three Liberty matchups, so take the Over 14.5 with confidence in the fourth matchup.”