The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Irish hand defense to Wake’s Elko
Demon Deacons were in top 20 in several categories.
Notre Dame hired Mike Elko as its defensive coordinator, hoping he can turn around a unit that struggled at the beginning of last season and was blamed in part for a down year for the Fighting Irish.
Elko has spent the past three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Wake Forest after two years at Bowling Green. The former Ivy League safety at Penn had the Demon Deacons’ defense ranked in the top 20 of the Football Bowl Subdivision in fumbles recovered (third), turnovers forced (10th), sacks (12th), defensive TDs (17th), red zone defense (17th) and scoring defense (20th).
Brian VanGorder, now a defensive analyst with Georgia, was fired as defensive coordinator Sept. 25, the day after a 38-35 loss to Duke dropped Notre Dame to 1-3 in what ended up being a 4-8 season.
Ohio State: The school has hired veteran NFL defensive assistant Bill Davis as an assistant coach to replace Luke Fickell, who is the new head coach at Cincinnati.
Davis has been on staff as an analyst for Ohio State this season. He worked 24 years on NFL staffs of head coaches, including Bill Cower, Tom Coughlin, Dan Reeves and Dom Capers. Most recently, he spent three seasons as defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Ohio State said Wednesday that Davis’ specific duties would be determined later.
Western Kentucky 51, Memphis 31: The Hilltoppers threw to their tackle, ran a trick play from their victory formation and kept scoring touchdowns for Nick Holt, their one-and-done interim coach.
Senior Anthony Wales gained 329 yards from scrimmage, and Western Kentucky earned a bowl victory for the third year in a row late Tuesday night in the Boca Raton Bowl.
The Hilltoppers (11-3) totaled 598 yards for Holt, who was filling in after coach Jeff Brohm left this month to become coach at Purdue.
Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Sanford was chosen over Holt as Brohm’s replacement next season.
Etc.: Texas A&M has suspended wide receiver Speedy Noil after he was charged with misdemeanor drug possession. Noil, from New Orleans, is charged with possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana. … James Madison suspended seven players before meeting Youngstown State for the FCS championship Jan. 7. … Baylor has been fined $5,000 for NCAA football recruiting violations, the latest blow for a program trying to pick up the pieces from a sexual assault scandal and struggles on the field.