Bluefield VA chases third win in last four with Kentucky Christian series

Kentucky Christian still holds the long-run edge in this series, 8-7 across 15 meetings since 2012, but the recent trend favors Bluefield VA, which has won 7 of the last 10. Saturday's meeting in the Appalachian Conference counts in the standings for both the Knights and the Rams, each looking for anything to build on in a lean season.

Kentucky Christian comes in having been outscored badly over its last five games, going 1-4 in that stretch, and Versus has the Knights' power rating sliding in each of the last three weeks. Their overall grade sits at a D with a D+ on offense, and a divisional rank of 85 in NAIA reflects how far the slide has gone. The one encouraging note is that Kentucky Christian has scored noticeably better at home than on the road this season, though this trip is to Bluefield, not home.

Bluefield VA is not exactly surging either. The Rams own a strength of schedule rank of 90 in NAIA and just allowed a season-high 52 points to Pikeville, numbers that temper their C- defensive grade. Still, Versus projects Bluefield VA to win 35-25, giving the Rams a 73 percent chance as they sit 11 spots ahead of Kentucky Christian at No. 74 in the NAIA rankings.