A month ago, Connecticut languished outside the top-25, a program that started slow -- slower than usual -- and took longer, much longer, to pick up the speed that had made it one of the premier teams in the country over the past few years.

Consider the Huskies caught-up.

A week after being profiled by NCAA.com, Connecticut shot up to No. 8 in Tuesday's poll, following a week in which the Huskies dropped Yale and Seton Hall to up their unbeaten streak to nine games (an 8-0-1 run). The Huskies' shutout streak ended at 799:39 in the Seton Hall win -- the first goal scored against Connecticut in October -- but a 3-1 win over the Pirates should soothe the sting.

Photo Courtesy of Virginia

And as the Huskies climbed higher in the top-10, two more teams made their way into the top flight of college teams, with South Florida and Virginia breaking back in at No. 9 and 10, respectively. For the Bulls, it was a return to a tier that they'd once surveyed from near the top -- as high as No. 3 -- but a loss and a tie three weeks ago sent them hurtling downwards. But, three straight wins have the green gang back on track. For Virginia, a 2-0 win over Boston College gave the Cavs their third straight win, sending them back into a top-10 crammed with four ACC teams.

All in all, the poll saw a good deal of disruption, although only three teams entered the top-25, with all of them checking in at No. 22 or below. Into that No. 22 spot moved Iona, followed by UNC Wilmington at No. 23 and Missouri State at No. 25. Moving out to make room were Cal, Drake and Ohio State.

For Cal, the drop has been dramatic. Two polls ago, the Bears stood at No. 10 in the country. But a disastrous run through two straight Pac-10 weekends -- weekends that handed Cal four straight losses, including two shutouts at the hands of UCLA and a combined one goal scored by the Bears -- has them reeling.

On the opposite side of the coin, Akron stood atop the country yet again, blowing to a 5-1 win over Michigan last Tuesday -- the Zips' first-ever win over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor -- and then blowing past Buffalo this weekend. The Zips, who surprised some people in the country with their early success, just seem to be getting better.

But their accompaniment in the No. 2 position did change this week, with former No. 2 UCLA falling for the first time in 11 games with a loss to Stanford on Sunday, and Wake Forest sliding into the second spot after a Friday win over then-No. 5 Maryland (who slipped one spot to No. 6) and a 4-1 breeze past Davidson on Sunday. The Bruins took a tumble, however, falling five spots to No. 7.

Heading down the chart, North Carolina (up one spot to No. 3) and UCSB kept on climbing, with the Gauchos taking down Cal State Fullerton most recently.

Leaving the top-10 were Monmouth, which took its first loss of the season to St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday and sunk from No. 7 to No. 14, and Charlotte, which fell to No. 9 after picking up a win and a tie in conference over the weekend.

Other big movers were Northwestern, moving up five spots to No. 12, and Butler, up six to No. 17.

Photo Courtesy of Penn State

Yesterday, we ran a story about teams rescuing their seasons by grinding out wins in-conference. Today (a rare thing, we know) we have proof.

When the NSCAA top-25 came out on Tuesday, half a dozen teams that have ransacked their leagues were rewarded. Some handsomely -- Louisville jumped to No. 7 from No. 12, while Connecticut rocketed from outside the poll to No. 17 -- and some just enough -- conference pot-stirrers Penn State and William & Mary checked in at Nos. 24 and 25, respectively.

Conversely, teams that haven't fared quite as well found themselves sitting significantly lower on the chart -- and some, not at all. South Florida, after a week that saw the Bulls fall under the rambling herd at Louisville and then tie unranked St. John's in BIG EAST play, dropped from No. 3 to No. 12. Duke's drop was even more dramatic. After climbing all the way up to No. 9 following a win over Maryland two weekends ago, the former darlings of the conference lost first to unranked (but streaking) Davidson and then to ACC rival NC State -- the Wolfpack's second upset in Durham in as many years -- to sink all the way to No. 21.

Dropping out of the poll completely were former No. 16 Boston University and No. 25 UMBC, both of whom have lost two straight in the America East, along with No. 20 Old Dominion, which lost two games in the CAA last week.

Overall, two teams dropped out and two made their way into the top-10, with Louisville and Maryland (at No. 9 following wins over Loyola [Ill.] and Virginia Tech) taking the top-10 spots once held by Duke and South Florida.

Working our way from the top, where Akron once again sits at No. 1 after a week that saw the Zips outscore Illinois-Chicago and Western Michigan by a combined margin of 7-1 and North Carolina held onto its No. 2 spot following a tie with No. 6 Wake Forest, the nation has a new No. 3 team. Ever since playing on national TV two Fridays ago, when UCSB dominated Indiana, 3-0, the Gauchos have done nothing but prove themselves to be among the nation's best.

No. 4 UCLA held firm in its spot, while Wake slid into No. 5, a place occupied by Cal -- now the nation's No. 10 team -- before the Bears fell to Washington Friday night. Harvard, despite tying unranked Ivy rival Cornell, moved from No. 8 to No. 6.

A spot below seventh-ranked Louisville sits No. 8 Monmouth, who moved up to its highest-ever national ranking (again) by virtue of the Hawks' refusal to actually lose a game. Monmouth's now 12-0-1, and doesn't look to be slowing anytime soon against its NEC opponents.

Rounding out the top-10 are No. 9 Maryland and No. 10 Cal.

Big movers outside the top-10 were N.C. State, up from No. 18 to No. 14, Northwestern, up from No. 22 to No. 16, and Stanford, hitting No. 18 from No. 23. Moving in the other direction were Indiana, falling to No. 23 from No. 14, and Portland, sitting at No. 22 after a No. 17 ranking last week.

Two Fridays ago, Maryland looked to be ready to set the pace in the ACC, with the then-No. 4 Terps dropping No. 2 North Carolina, 1-0. Today, the Terps find themselves out of the top-10, coming in at No. 11 as the recipients of two tough losses last week -- the first to unranked George Mason on Tuesday, then another to No. 14 Duke on Friday night.

But, after a poll last week that looked like a tornado hit it, this week's looks relatively tame. Only two teams exited the top-25, with two more -- Drake and previously ranked Dartmouth -- taking their spots at No. 22 and 24, respectively. Two more left the top-10, with Indiana also falling after a 3-0 loss at UCSB on Friday night. In their places climb those Gauchos (up to No. 7 after taking No. 11 last week) and Duke, with the not-so-surprising-anymore Blue Devils firing five spots up to No. 9.

Photo Courtesy of Duke

Meanwhile, Akron maintained its hold on the top spot, despite scoring only six goals and posting two shutouts in two wins last week against Ohio State and Florida Atlantic. In doing so, Michael Nanchoff, who -- along with his legendary Akron family -- was profiled by NCAA.com last week, earned a spot on his third straight Team of the Week, this time on the College Soccer News squad, after two straight weeks on the Soccer America team. The Zips earned a total of 575 points, including all 23 first-place votes.

Just below the Zips sits North Carolina, who rose up from No. 5 after a huge ACC win over Virginia, which the Tar Heels took, 1-0 in OT. South Florida's in third now, up from No. 6 last week, thanks to a shutout win over Cincinnati.

UCLA stood firm in the No. 4 spot, after a weekend that saw the Bruins go 1-0-1, downing Oregon State and tying Washington. The win marked Kyle Nakazawa's sixth straight game with a goal and pushed UCLA's unbeaten streak to six games.

Into the fifth spot slides Pac-10 rival Cal, whose conference win over then-No. 20 (and now No. 23) Stanford moved the Golden Bears up one spot in the polls.

A 5-1 win over Virginia Tech couldn't offset Wake Forest's loss earlier in the week to Charlotte, as the Demon Deacons fell to No. 6 after standing at No. 3 last week. For Charlotte, who snapped Wake Forest's nation-leading non-conference win streak and tacked on a win over Furman on Saturday, the 49ers made the biggest jump up, now finding themselves at No. 15, up seven spots from No. 22.

Rounding out the top-10 are No. 8 Harvard and No. 10 Monmouth, who both hung onto their spots from a week prior with wins over Yale and Fairleigh Dickinson, respectively.

In the second stratus, the big risers included N.C. State (up six spots to No. 18), Portland (up four to No. 17) and Northwestern (who dropped Ohio State in its Big Ten opener to shoot up to No. 21).

UMBC led teams taking the biggest hits, as the Retrievers plummeted seven spots to No. 25 after taking its first loss of the year in its first game in America East play, falling 3-1 at Vermont. Higher up the poll, but falling five spots, was Indiana, whose loss in Santa Barbara trumped a 3-0 win over then-No. 20 Kentucky earlier in the week.

After a weekend that spared only a handful of teams in the top-25 from upsets and saw just five teams in the top-10 emerge without a loss, the NSCAA poll looked understandably...altered on Monday.

Akron, who destroyed Bowling Green, 6-0, hung onto first. Only one other team in the country held its position. Two teams fell out of the top-10, seven dropped out of the top-25 and seven more replaced them - led by now-undefeated Ohio State in the 15th spot.

In the top-10, No. 2 Maryland was rewarded for knocking off then-No. 2 North Carolina with a late goal on Friday night, jumping up two spots, while UNC fell to fifth. UCLA, who took two wins over unranked teams, bounded up from No. 10 to No. 5. Heading back to the ACC, Wake Forest used a win over No. 8  Harvard (still at No. 8) to make its way up to No. 3.

South Florida and Cal fell to No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, after weekend losses, while UCSB's win over UC Irvine on Sunday wasn't enough to offset a loss to San Diego State, as the Gauchos sunk from No. 7 to No. 11. The other team to fall out of the top-10, Louisville, plummeted from No. 9 to No. 17 after a weekend that saw the Cardinals fall, 4-0, to Notre Dame on Friday and tie Marquette, 2-2, on Sunday.

The two top-10 evacuees created room for Indiana to make its way from No. 13 to No. 9 after a win over Wisconsin and for Monmouth to continue its meteoric rise to new heights, surging to No. 10 - the program's highest-ever ranking - after starting the year at 8-0-0.

Other interesting movers & shakers start with the Buckeyes, who downed defending Big Ten champs and No. 21 Michigan State on Sunday to blow out to the program's best-ever start. Look for them to be tested on Wednesday when OSU heads to Akron.

Virginia and Duke didn't suffer too much for losses to Clemson and BC, respectively, falling from No. 11 to No. 12 and No. 12 to No. 14, in that order. But Dartmouth, who fell to Hartwick, and Creighton, who fell to Portland, did, as both the Big Green and Blue Jays dropped from No. 15 and No. 17 to the Others-Receiving-Votes section.

And finally, UMBC cracks the top-25. The owner of two of the nation's top three scorers, in Andrew Bulls (first) and Levi Houapeu (third), the Retrievers are playing great soccer. And oh yeah - they're still undefeated, at 9-0-0.