The Associated Press

PHOENIX - Fans booking rooms for the Fiesta Bowl will fill up hotel rooms in the Phoenix area at a rate not seen since the 1996 Super Bowl.

The Jan.3 national championship game is projected to help put occupancy in the area's 52,000 rooms at 80 to 90 percent for two days before and after the event, said Brent DeRaad, spokesman for the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Hotel and resort managers said most of the demand comes from Ohio State fans.

Despite their team being the defending national champion, Miami fans aren't known for traveling to attend games.

UTAH: Bowling Green football coach Urban Meyer accepted the coaching job at Utah on Wednesday.

Utah fired coach Ron McBride last month after the Utes' second losing record in three seasons.

Meyer, 38, was 17-6 in two seasons at Bowling Green. He was 9-3 this year, when the Falcons won their first eight games and climbed to No.20 in the Associated Press poll.

Meyer, a native of Ashtabula, Ohio, served as an assistant coach at Notre Dame, Colorado State, Illinois State and Ohio State and as a student assistant at Cincinnati.

MARSHALL: Byron Leftwich's second straight 4,000-yard passing season wasn't enough to make him one of five Heisman Trophy finalists.

"I'm not disappointed at all," Leftwich said. "I don't hold any grudges. Nobody promised me I'd be one of those guys in the first place.">AWARDS: Iowa's Dallas Clark won the John Mackey Award as the nation's top tight end Wednesday.

Clark, a junior all-Big Ten Conference selection, was the Hawkeyes' second-leading receiver with 39 catches for 645 yards and four touchdowns.

Iowa's Nate Kaeding won the 2002 Lou Groza Award, given annually to the top Division I-A kicker.

Kaeding, a junior, made 20 of 22 field goals, including a 55-yarder.