COLUMBIA — Hampton used to be South Carolina State’s nemesis in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. From 2004 to 2006, the Bulldogs finished second in the league, always to the Pirates.

But Hampton is just 12-8 in the MEAC since those days, and is coming off a 40-point loss last weekend. Still, South Carolina coach Buddy Pough is telling his team they better not take the Pirates lightly.

“We’ve got to impress upon them just how important it is that Hampton is a much better football team than what we saw on film this past Saturday,” Pough said.

The schedule

In other games Saturday involving the state’s Football Championship Subdivision teams, Furman is at The Citadel; Wofford travels to Western Carolina; Charleston Southern hosts Liberty; Presbyterian hosts VMI; and Coastal Carolina is at Stony Brook.

In Division II play, Benedict hosts Fort Valley State for a 2 p.m. homecoming contest in Columbia, while Newberry hosts Tusculum at 7 p.m. at Setzler Field in Newberry. North Greenville has a bye week and returns to action on Oct. 31 when they travel to Atlanta for a 2 p.m. game with Clark Atlanta.

The breakdown

In Hampton, Va., South Carolina State (5-1, 3-0 MEAC) expects to see a much different Hampton (3-3, 2-2) than the team that lost to Norfolk State 46-6 a week ago.

“We expect a total turnaround for them than the way they played last week,” Pough said. “We think they will play as good as they can this week.”

The Bulldogs are riding a 14-game MEAC winning streak, and Hampton coach Don Rose said the Bulldogs are, without a doubt, the league’s best team.

“I know when coach Pough first came into the league, it took him a little bit to get there,” Rose said. “But he’s there. He’s there now.”

South Carolina State running back Will Ford became the school’s all-time leading rusher last week. The senior has run for 4,208 yards in his career and is just 495 yards away from breaking the MEAC’s career rushing record.

In Charleston, coach Bobby Lamb said he hopes Furman (4-2, 3-1 Southern Conference) can give his heart a rest against The Citadel (2-4, 0-3).

The Paladins beat Samford last week on a blocked field goal as time expired. Furman missed an extra point in the final two minutes in the previous game against Elon, which opened the door to a game-winning field goal for the Phoenix.

The Bulldogs might not be the best opponent for the Furman coach if he wants a stress-free weekend.

“The last time we went down there, we had a good lead in the first half and they came back and beat us 54-51 in overtime,” Lamb said. “And I don’t know if my heart can take that.”

The Bulldogs have to stop the run if they want to win, and even then, Furman can be dangerous, Citadel coach Kevin Higgins said.

“They love to run the football. They do a good job of that,” Higgins said. “Their play action game, I think, is outstanding.”

In Cullowhee, N.C., Wofford (1-5, 0-3 SoCon) will try to keep a bad season from getting worse against Western Carolina (1-5, 1-3).

The Terriers have already lost more SoCon games than any season since 2005.

Wofford has won three in a row and 10 of the last 12 against the Catamounts, but Terriers coach Mike Ayers said the program appears to be turning around under second-year coach Dennis Wagner.

“We’re a team that’s growing, getting better every week. But with the competition level in this conference, you have to take some big jumps,” Ayers said after his team hung tough in a 44-34 loss to Appalachian State last week. “We definitely got better, there’s no doubt about it. Our goal is to keep getting better and fight the fight until the end.”

In North Charleston, Charleston Southern (2-4, 0-1 Big South) will be the latest Big South Conference team to try and derail the Liberty freight train.

The Flames (4-2, 1-0) have outscored the Buccaneers by an average score of 42-10 during their past three meetings, which have coincided with Liberty’s 12-game league winning streak.

Charleston Southern isn’t changing much in its preparation for this week’s game, coach Jay Mills said.

“Victory is never final, defeat is never fatal, so we’re looking forward to the next one,” Mills said.

In Clinton, Presbyterian (0-6, 0-1 Big South) hopes a week off helped the team get itself together as the Blue Hose play VMI (1-5, 0-3).

Presbyterian has lost its games this season by an average of 26 points and has let four of its six opponents top 40 points.

That might be good news for a Keydet team averaging just 18 points a game. VMI hasn’t won a Big South road game since 2005.

The Blue Hose haven’t won, period, since Nov. 1, when they shocked Liberty.

In Stony Brook, N.Y., Coastal Carolina (3-3, 1-1) can’t wait for Saturday’s game against Stony Brook (3-4, 2-0).

The Chanticleers want to erase any memory of last week’s 58-13 blow out by Liberty. Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett said the devotion given to his team a few days later was about suffering.

“In the sports world, that was suffering,” Bennett said.

The trip to Long Island will be only the second visit to the New York area for Bennett, a Cheraw native with degrees from Presbyterian and Clemson.

“I remember, we went to Harlem and I was waving at people,” Bennett said. “A guy honked the horn and shot me the bird, and the guy with me said, ’We’re not in South Carolina coach, quit waving at people and quit saying hey.”’

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