Utah's stock rises with climb to 17th

Utah football's stock is rising. After Thursday's 41-21 win over Texas A&M on ESPN, the Utes (1-0) jumped three spots to 17th in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll.

At the same time, interest in head coach Urban Meyer may also be on the rise.

"If I'm at a big school and I need to hire a head coach, who has a Midwest root and tie, you'd be stupid not to look at the guy," said ESPN college football analyst Mike Tirico. "The guy has got it."

BYU's 20-17 win over Notre Dame Saturday night poured fuel on speculation that the Irish may soon be courting Meyer. He was a Notre Dame assistant coach from 1996-2000 and is 28-8 as a head coach (at Bowling Green and Utah) since leaving the program. Meyer has picked up several coach of the year awards, as well as national honors from The Sporting News in 2003.

In Sunday's South Bend (Ind.) Tribune, the newspaper speculated a bit about the future of Notre Dame's ailing football program following the loss in Provo.

"Maybe it'll take somebody like Urban Meyer, who continues to update his resume up the road in Salt Lake City, but that's inappropriate and premature, grass-roots support aside," read the article.

Days earlier, an ESPN.com report stated: "If this season maintains its early trajectory, athletic directors looking for a coach will be speed-dialing the 801 area code."

As far as national interest is concerned, Tirico said that Meyer is getting there.

"Urban proved it in the MAC, turning around a program, and has really given this place (Utah) a great shot in the arm. So if you prove it here and prove it there, in any line of work, you always want to find out where the ceiling is. Can you do the job at the highest level?" he said. "In a sane moment, hardly any Utah fan is going to say that the program is on par with Michigan, Notre Dame or Ohio State, any of those programs that are mentioned in Urban's buyout."

Utah fans shouldn't take that as an insult, Tirico added, it's a compliment.

"So you can't be insulted by one of the all-time winningest programs being a rumor place for your head coach," said Tirico. "It means people are actually paying attention to what's going on out here and that the quality is pretty good."