Utah May Pass on Chow Option

USC’s fear that offensive coordinator Norm Chow would leave to become the head coach at Utah was abated somewhat Tuesday when Utah reportedly offered the job to another candidate.

Bowling Green Coach Urban Meyer, who has been linked to several major coaching openings in the last few weeks, met with Utah Athletic Director Chris Hill on Monday in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting today that Meyer is considering an offer to replace Ron McBride, who was fired after 13 seasons.

Chow, who played at Utah and coached at Brigham Young for 27 seasons, met with Hill last week. He was in Utah on Tuesday morning but said he was there to make a stop at his family’s home in Provo before continuing on to Little Rock, Ark., for tonight’s Broyles Award dinner. Chow is a finalist for award, presented annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.

Chow also said that UCLA athletic department officials had not contacted him about the school’s head-coaching job.

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USC lobbied the Orange Bowl in the final weeks of the regular season, promising that Trojan fans would follow the team to Miami if selected for the bowl championship series game.

As of late Tuesday, USC officials said more than 6,000 of the 15,000 tickets they are responsible for had been sold for the Jan. 2 game against Iowa.

“We still have a ways to go, but we’re happy with it,” said Steve Lopes, a senior associate athletic director.

All but 400 of the tickets available through USC are priced at $85, Lopes said. The others are $120. Lopes said a variety of travel packages are available, one that includes a game ticket and round-trip chartered airfare for $744.

Stephan Benson, associate executive director of the Orange Bowl, said the matchup between the fifth-ranked Trojans (10-2) and third-ranked Hawkeyes (11-1) has produced a guaranteed sellout at Pro Player Stadium, which has a seating capacity of more than 74,000.

Iowa has sold all of the 26,000 tickets it was allotted.

“I’m anticipating that USC will sell [more than] 15,000,” Benson said. “We have sold out all the other tickets.

“That’s a tremendous feat. It shows you that fans respond to top-end matchups.”

USC expects more response when direct-mail pieces reach 40,000 alumni across the country.