USC tight end Blake Ayles recently apologized for flipping the double-fingered salute behind two Notre Dame fans before the Trojans’ game in South Bend last Saturday.

From the L.A. Times:

In the photo, Ayles can be seen gesturing behind two Notre Dame fans who were on the field for a pregame snapshot.

“It was all my fault, so I just want to say that I’m sorry,” Ayles said. “I didn’t mean to disrespect the school or anyone.

“I was just being stupid.”

Ayles, a sophomore, said he was not aware of the photo until tight ends coach Brennan Carroll brought it to his attention Monday morning.

“He was just kind of like, ‘C’mon man. Are you serious?’ ” Ayles said.

Coach Pete Carroll said Ayles would be “on active community service duty for some time,” as punishment for the indiscretion.

Deadspin has the photo of Ayles’ gestures, which I find to be rather funny myself.

Wait, I mean, that wasn’t right. Players should represent their programs with the utmost respect and class.

No, no, it was freaking funny.

UConn police said one of their officers was approached on Hillside Road around 12:33 a.m. and told that a stabbing had occurred. Police found Howard and another person with stab wounds, university police said in a statement. The name of the second person was not immediately released.

Both were taken by ambulance to Windham Community Memorial Hospital. Howard was later airlifted by Lifestar helicopter to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, where he died from his injuries, police said. The second person was treated and released from Windham hospital.

Howard made a key move in Saturday’s game, forcing a fumble just as Louisville was about to score. The Huskies were up 21-13 at the time. They later won 38-25. Following the game, Howard, who led the Big East in punt returns last season, talked to the AP about the play.

You wonder why someone would feel the need to stab two people following a dance, especially a couple of kids.

Only once in the history of the BCS has a two-loss team every played for the national title (LSU in 2007). So forgive the Virginia Tech Hokies if they’re not feeling too good about their title hopes after they were upset 28-23 by Georgia Tech on Saturday.

The Hokies became yet another victim of the Yellow Jackets’ option attack as quarterback Josh Nesbitt passed for only 51 yards, but gained 122 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. Running back Jonathan Dwyer added 82 yards on 20 carries in the victory.

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter when VA Tech played like a team with something on the line. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor rushed for a 22-yard touchdown to cut Georgia Tech’s lead to 21-16, but Nesbitt scored on a 39-yard touchdown with three minutes remaining to put the Jackets back up 28-16. Ryan Williams scored on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Taylor with just under two minutes remaining, but it was too little too late. Despite making strides as a passer the past couple weeks, Taylor struggled outside of the fourth quarter.

What a win for Georgia Tech. They quieted many pundits that deemed them overrated and one-dimensional by turning in a solid defensive effort to go along with their potent option attack. The Jackets turned some heads tonight.

With the Hokies’ loss, the Coastal Division is now wide up. Between VA Tech, Miami, Georgia Tech and Virginia, the division is completely up for grabs.

Welcome to the party, Matt Barkley.

The freshman quarterback completed 19 of 29 passes for 380 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday in USC’s thrilling 34-27 victory over Notre Dame. Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen was also solid while completing 24 of 43 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns.

The Trojans made several stupid mistakes in this game, including a couple of costly and near-costly penalties in the second half. But Pete Carroll’s squad racked up 501 yards on the road in a hostile environment, which is incredibly impressive.

Pundits had been waiting for USC’s offense to break out of its shell with Barkley under center and that’s exactly what they did today. At one point in the third quarter, Barkley completed seven straight passes for 195 yards and connected with Damian Williams on a 41-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter to give the Trojans a 20-7 lead. That scoring drive was huge because its defense had just stuffed James Aldridge on a fourth-and-one-attempt inside the Trojans’ 30 and it was key to USC stealing the momentum.

While it’ll be hard for Charlie Weis and the Irish to stomach yet another loss to USC, Notre Dame has nothing to hang its head about. In the past, the Irish would have simply given up in the second half and allowed the Trojans to crush them. But Weis’ group kept fighting back on Saturday and even had several cracks inside the red zone to tie the game with seconds remaining in the fourth. This is a tougher Notre Dame team than we’re used to seeing.

With this win, USC keeps its national title hopes alive. Of course, the Oregon State team that has given the Trojans fits the past couple years is the next team on their schedule and then USC has to travel to Eugene to take on Oregon. So while this was a huge win for the Trojans, they’ve got a long way to go.

One would have thought that Tim Tebow and Florida learned from their loss to Ole Miss last year to never take an opponent for granted. Maybe that wasn’t the case on Saturday, but it sure seemed like it.

The Gators are extremely lucky to still be undefeated and when the BCS releases its standings for the first time on October 20, Florida will be extremely lucky if they’re still ranked No. 1.

The word “lucky” might not sit well with some Gator fans, but most teams that play as bad as Florida did in its 23-20 win over Arkansas on Saturday usually don’t win. The Gators turned the ball over four times, benefited from two Razorback missed field goals and had no answer for backup running back Dennis Johnson, who broke so many tackles the stats people will need a calculator to add them all up.

Tebow was good – damn good. He threw for 255 yards on 17 of 26 passing with one touchdown and also added 60 rushing yards on 24 carries. But the key in this game wasn’t Tebow – it was that Arkansas didn’t capitalize on Florida’s mistakes. For all intents and purposes, it was a game they probably should have won.

But “should have” and “did” are two different things. Bobby Petrino’s squad didn’t win and that’s the bottom line. They could have shocked the college football world by beating the No. 1 team in the nation but in the end they choked. That said, this is one of the most dangerous unranked teams in the nation, which they’ve proved over the past two weeks by routing Auburn and hanging with Florida.

Back the Gators. If Alabama comes out and absolutely crushes South Carolina, does the Crimson Tide deserve to be No. 1? Alabama hasn’t suffered one setback this year – not one. I realize Florida still won today, but the Gamecocks are ranked and would therefore prove to be a more worthy opponent than Arkansas.

If ‘Bama produces a rout tonight, Nick Saban’s squad has an argument that it deserves to be No. 1. Tonight should be interesting.

No. 11 Iowa had to overcome an early 7-0 deficit to narrowly beat Michigan last week, a 10-0 deficit on the road to beat Penn State in late September, and also needed to block two last-minute field goals to avoid a shocking upset to Northern Iowa in the opening week.

So is anyone surprised that the Hawkeyes once again had to overcome adversity to beat Wisconsin on Saturday?

Iowa owes much of its 20-10 victory over the Badgers today to its defense, which was amazing in the second half. Pat Angerer and Adrian Clayborn essentially took the game over as the Hawkeyes shut the Badgers out in the second half.

Quarterback Ricky Stanzi also played a key role in Iowa’s victory. Despite leading the Hawkeyes to an undefeated record, Stanzi has been often criticized by fans and college football pundits this year. And while his final numbers (17 of 23, 218 yards, 1 TD) weren’t eye-popping, the junior quarterback never panicked despite facing the early deficit and turned in a solid second half performance.

Wisconsin once again shot itself in the foot with turnovers and the inability to move the ball offensively in the second half. After looking great in the first quarter, Badger signal caller Scott Tolzien was brutal in the second half and was the main catalyst in Wisconsin’s collapse. He continues to waste solid performances by sophomore running back John Clay.

With Ohio State’s loss to Purdue on Saturday, all eyes are now on Iowa in the Big Ten. It’s the Hawkeyes’ conference to lose and outside of a pivotal game in Columbus in November, Iowa doesn’t face many roadblocks the rest of the season.

The unexpected happened today in Dallas. What was supposed to be a grudge match between quarterbacks Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford was anything but after Bradford was knocked out of the game in the first quarter. And what was supposed to be an offensive slug fest actually turned out to be a defensive struggle.

Some may say it wasn’t pretty, but Texas earned a hard-fought 16-13 victory over Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry on Saturday. Bradford only attempted six passes in the game, completing two for 77 yards before suffering another injury following a first-quarter sack. On the other side, McCoy was just 12 of 39 passing for 127 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

This game turned on the first possession of the second half. After Oklahoma took a 6-3 lead into halftime, the Longhorns came out in the third quarter utilizing a hurry-up offense that allowed McCoy to finally get into a rhythm passing. While the drive only produced a field goal, it instilled confidence in McCoy after the Sooners had frustrated him in the first half. This was the second straight year in which OU’s defense got the best of McCoy.

Freshman receiver Marquis Goodwin also played a huge role in the Longhorns’ victory. Oklahoma completely took emerging Heisman candidate Jordan Shipley out of the game by blanketing him in coverage, but Goodwin hauled in three passes and caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from McCoy midway through the third quarter to give Texas its first lead. With Shipley held in check, Goodwin came up huge.

Of course, you can’t talk about UT’s victory without mentioning how good its defense played. Bradford’s injury definitely helped keep OU in check, but the Sooners were limited to minus-24 yards on 19 carries today. I don’t care who was under center for Oklahoma – that’s an impressive feat for the Longhorns defense. UT also caused five turnovers, two of which came from defensive back Aaron Williams, who recovered a fumble that produced points for the Longhorns and also intercepted a pass to help seal the win.

This game certainly failed to live up to expectations in several areas, namely because of Bradford’s injury and the lack of scoring. Plus, outside of a couple of clutch third-down conversions on the Longhorns’ touchdown drive, McCoy’s performance was severely lacking for a Heisman candidate playing in a huge game. But it’s never easy to beat a rival with so much on the line and at the end of the day, that’s exactly what Texas did. They took another step today in becoming the undisputed champions of the Big 12 and stayed in BCS title contention.