STORRS, Conn. — A Connecticut football player who was an expectant father was stabbed to death early yesterday after an on-campus dance, just hours after helping his team to a homecoming victory.

Jasper Howard, 20, of Miami, and another student were stabbed during a fight after a fire alarm was pulled during a university sanctioned dance at the UConn Student Union just after 12:30 a.m., police said.

Police had not identified a suspect or released the name of the other victim.

Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said the team was heartbroken and devastated over the loss of Howard, a junior and the team's starting cornerback who came to the school to get away from the violence on the streets of his hometown. He became the first person in his family to go to college.

"I know this," Edsall said, his eyes red and welling with tears, "he loved UConn; he loved his teammates; he loved everything about this."

Edsall said Howard's death was especially tragic, because he was about to become a father. No additional information about the expectant mother, identified by Edsall as Howard's girlfriend, was provided by police or the university.

Joanglia Howard said she got news of her son's death about 4 a.m., and described him as a "good kid" who never got into trouble.

"All I wanted him to do was go to school and get an education, and he was doing what I asked him to do," she told WSVN-TV in Miami.

Edsall gathered his team at its training facility at 6 a.m. to deliver the news.

"As Jazz looks down on us, I can promise him and his family, that son or daughter will have 105 uncles," punter Desi Cullen, a team captain, said at an afternoon news conference. "And we will do what it takes to not get through this, but to grow from it."

UConn Police Major Ronald Blicher said this is the first homicide at the university in the more than 30 years he has been associated with the school.

Blicher said Howard was stabbed following a fight between two groups that included students and non-students. The altercation broke out just after a fire alarm went off in the student center, forcing the evacuation of about 300 people, from a "Welcome Back" party and dance sponsored by the school's West Indian Awareness Organization.

The university community was sent messages warning them to be cautious, but Blicher said officials don't believe anyone else is in danger.

Howard and the other stabbing victim were taken to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, where the second victim was treated and released. Howard was later airlifted to Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, where he died from his injuries.

Howard, who led the Big East in punt returns last season, had a career-high 11 tackles Saturday against Louisville and made perhaps the game's biggest play, forcing a fumble just as Louisville was about to score with UConn up 21-13 in the third quarter. Connecticut won, 38-25.

POLL

TIDE JUMPS GATORS

After a steady climb, Alabama has reached the top of the AP poll.

The Crimson Tide jumped Florida and landed at No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 yesterday.

The unbeaten Gators had been in the top spot since the preseason, but the Crimson Tide has been gaining ground for weeks by winning more convincingly than the Gators.

The final surge came after Alabama beat South Carolina, 20-6, and Florida needed a field goal in the waning seconds to beat Arkansas, 23-20, at home.

The Crimson Tide got 39 out of 59 first-place votes.