South Carolina State's win streak meets a rising Furman in game three

Furman still holds the series with South Carolina State, up 2-1 in three meetings since 2013, with the most recent meeting in October 2015 ending in a 17-3 Paladins win. Eleven years later, the two programs meet again outside conference play, both ranked among Versus's top 20 in FCS, though the numbers behind that shared standing look very different this time.

South Carolina State comes in unbeaten at 3-0 and riding an 11-game winning streak, graded A+ on both power and offense and A on defense, with a power rank of 7 in FCS. The one soft spot is schedule strength, ranked 120th in FCS, which tempers how much can be read into that record. Still, an offensive rank of 6 paired with a defensive rank of 11 makes the Bulldogs one of the most complete teams in the division on paper.

Furman has climbed 44 spots in the Versus FCS rankings this season, moving from No. 63 to No. 19, built on an A- defense ranked 29th even as the offense sits at 55th and graded B-. Versus projects South Carolina State to win 34-20, giving the Bulldogs a 79 percent chance in a non-conference game that carries no bearing on either team's conference standing.