INDIANA, Pa. -- It is different here in Division II. Different from what you expected.

It is a Saturday night in late summer and in the gloaming a football stadium slowly fills.

It has two sets of bleachers facing each other. Small trailers with smoke pouring out the sides circle the field and people wait in line to purchase grilled goodies.

The marching band clunks in from a side entrance and filters clumsily into the stands.

The teams mill around on the astroturf (yes, turf) and look a lot more normal than behemoths like Jimmy Kennedy and Gus Felder.

Indiana and Bloomsburg have been for a few years now the powerhouses of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), a 14-team, two-division conference made up of state schools.

Indiana was ranked seventh in the American Football Coaches Association poll but blew two eight-point leads late in a 37-34 loss to a school called Findley, which went 3-8 last year. The Bears dropped to No. 22 in the polls with the loss.

Bloomsburg played in the NCAA Div. II championship two years ago and was ranked No. 9 coming in.

On the field seconds before kickoff, it is almost as if the players are being ignored. They are simply on the playground, ready for epic battle.

The crowd, for the most part, is not decked-out in Indiana colors. Instead, they wear their Abercrombie stuff and some cologne, ready to hit the frats as soon as or before the game ends.

The vendors are about 10 years old and walk around the track yelling "p'nutsabuck" or "hot freshonlyonefitty." It takes several minutes before you realize that peanuts are a dollar and popcorn costs one dollar and fifty cents.

When the Indiana Bears score, a huge cannon goes off and scares said popcorn or peanuts right out of your backside.

Of course, the cannon is needed to alert the fans that Indiana, in fact, has scored. They've been too busy chatting on their cell phones or talking to friends about what the plans are for later in the night.

And Indiana did score early and often against Bloomsburg. There's no better motivation than losing ugly to a school no one has ever heard off. My brother, an IUP student, kept referring to Findley as "the F team" which may have reflected how he felt about them more than anything.

But IUP is ready for Bloomsburg in an early struggle for PSAC superiority. By the way, don't you just love a conference called the PSAC?

It is 14-nothing at the end of one quarter, and 27-3 by the end of two. Bloomsburg seems baffled by everything the Bears do, a sign that it is playing its first game of the season and Indiana is sharper, having played already.

[Note: Penn State will play its second game this weekend; Nebraska will play its fourth. Interpret as you will.]

There are some interesting story lines in the game. Michigan transfer Dave Armstrong, now a defensive end for Bloomsburg, trying to stuff Elice Parker, an ex-LSU Tiger now running for Indiana, is a fine battle. Armstrong makes nine tackles and Parker pounds his way to 113 yards.

And the girl behind me decides to go to Phi Psi. The guys there are hot.

In front of me, there is a small football game taking place between little guys in red pinnies. At my high school, kids who played for the local midget football league could get in for free if they wore their uniforms, the idea being, I guess, that they are the future of the town's football hopes. I assume that is why these kids were donning their red at the game -- to avoid the three-dollar fee.

There is a considerable lack of drunken alumni at Indiana football games. Mostly, the older fans are something called "townies." I believe State College has townies, but they are too afraid to emerge from their abodes due to unruly and fourth-ranked party partakers.

Back on the field, the hitting is fairly intense. I can stand along the rail and, at eye level, watch the game unfolding only a few yards away. The Bloomsburg zone is not tight enough, the linebackers are over-pursuing. Indiana's quarterback has a surprisingly strong arm but is not very accurate.

Here is football without all the frenzy. Two teams that started the season ranked in the top 10 are playing and there are no annoying ESPN guys around.

None of the players will use "NFL" in their post-game quotes and most of them will go to class today.

It is good wholesome football, pure as can be.

Don't ask me who won though. I, along with most of the other students, left at halftime.