Bruins continue to roll

Before we do anything else, let's lavish some props on a team that nobody else is giving much credit despite the fact that they've knocked off two top ten teams in the last two weeks. That's right, we're talking about the boys from Penn State (3-6-2), who left Bloomington, Indiana last Friday night with a thrilling, nationally televised 2-1 overtime win against the two-time defending national champion Hoosiers.

"Penn State is a much better team than their record indicates," said IU coach Mike Freitag after PSU handed his team its first loss of 2005 and just its third-ever regular season defeat on Yeagley Field.

This season, the Nittany Lions have beaten then-number six Maryland, and suffered hard-fought losses to consensus number one New Mexico, preseason final four pick UCLA and unbeaten Akron (who dropped the Lions 2-1 on Monday night despite being out shot 9-4).

Still, with twice as many Ls as Ws, it's not surprising that Barry Gorman's side hasn't made a dent in any of the four national polls. But with a far easier schedule from here on out, and with freshman forward (and top scorer ) Jason Yeisley looking like a player, donšt be surprised to see Penn State make a run at a Big Ten crown next month.

We usually save this for the Notes section, but we need to point out that in addition to Indiana, three more undefeateds fell for the first time last weekend. Not only did high-flying California lose their Pac-10 opener 2-0 to archrival UCLA, but the Bears followed up with a 1-0 setback to San Diego State in their next outing, dropping thirteen spots to number 16 in the new Soccer America rankings.

UCLA (who topped Stanford 1-0 Sunday) continues to be led by its all-international backline. U.S. youth teamers Marvell Wynne (his first career goal was the game winner vs. Cal) Jordan Harvey (two goals in two games) and Patrick Ianni (who assisted on Wynne's winner) aren't really supposed to be providing the offense for Jorge Salcedošs side, but they've been doing the job on D as well: The Bruins (6-2-0) have kept six clean sheets on the year, with four coming in the last five games, and havenšt been scored on in Westwood.

North Carolina had its unbeaten run halted at ACC foe Virginia, although in hindsight it's hardly surprising that the Tar Heels' run ended in Charlottesville. UNC hasn't won there in 28 years. It was Virginia coach George Gelnovatch's 150th win at the Cavaliers' helm since taking the reigns from current national team boss Bruce Arena.

Farleigh Dickinson had climbed all the way up to seventh in the NSCAA/adidas national rankings with a 7-0-1 start, but the Knights couldn't get past Fairfield, losing 2-0 in Connecticut. Still, an NEC championship and NCAA bid could be in the cards for the Teaneck, New Jersey school this season.

Akron is officially breathing down the necks of America's top team. New Mexico was idle this weekend, but if the Lobos slip up just once the rest of the way, the Ohioans look set to steal the bullseye off their backs. The Zips are living up to their nickname, standing 10-0, and are second in the latest Soccer America, College Soccer News, Soccer Times and NSCAA/adidas polls. Akron leads the nation in scoring, averaging a staggering 3.89 goals per game, and are also doing the business on the other side of the ball too, as they're now third nationally in goals against with a .33 mark (gotta love that NCAA stat-keeping, huh?).

Fans are starting to take notice too, with over 3,500 total spectators ringing Lee Jackson Field for back-to-back wins over Ohio State and Penn State. We're looking forward to the Zips' trips to Indiana and St. John's in the coming weeks, where Akron's mettle will really be put to the test.

Top tens St. Johns, Duke and Santa Clara are quietly rolling along.

Sputtering Maryland got a big three-oh victory against Wake Forest on the strength of Jason Garey's pair. UConn is back on track at 7-2-1 and shellacked Marquette 6-0 last Friday, while Old Dominion is an impressive 7-1-0, good enough for Soccer America's tenth spot.

Notes:

Random Thought: How cool is it that Indiana has a redshirt freshman named John Mellencamp?

Opportunity Knocks: Buffalo is 10-1 and the Bulls have a great chance to climb up the national pecking order when they host perfect Akron in their Mid-American Conference opener on Friday night.

Still Undefeated: But for how long? Check back in next week to see if upstarts San Diego, San Diego State (must be good water out there this season) and Missouri State can avoid The Jinx along with the chart toppers this weekend.

Tube Time: Plenty televised action coming up over the next two weeks, beginning Friday with the ACC grudge match between Duke and Maryland, live on Fox Soccer Channel (8pm ET)

Other games to look for (check your local listings):

Stanford vs. California (Live) Sat., 7pm PT Comcast Sportsnet West

UC Santa Barbara vs. Cal State Northridge (Delayed) Oct. 10, 10pm ET CSTV

Michigan vs. Indiana (D) Oct. 11, 7pm CT Comcast Local (Detroit)

Michigan St. vs. Notre Dame (D) Oct. 13, 7pm CT Comcast Local (Detroit)

Maryland vs. North Carolina (Live) Oct. 14, 8pm ET Fox Soccer Channel

Doug McIntyre is a soccer columnist for ESPN The Magazine and ESPNsoccernet.