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If you thought the only screwy things in the bowl picture occurred at the BCS level, please reconsider. Wake Forest and Navy, which met in Winston-Salem in September, will conduct a rematch in the inaugural Eagle Bank Bowl in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 20, sources indicated.

                Wake hasn't confirmed its end of the deal, but coach Jim Grobe is scheduled to be available on  a teleconference at 9 tonight. The other participant on the call will be Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, and the Midshipmen agreed to the spot in the Eagle Bank Bowl, then known as the Congressional Bowl, before the season.

                Wake's assignment to the Eagle Bank Bowl means N.C. State will need a spot in a game not previously affiliated with the ACC. The school is close to announcing a deal to play in the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala.

Rematches of regular-season meetings are rare, and even then, they're generally made to settle a late-season score of national magnitude. The Midshipmen defeated the Demon Deacons 24-17 on Sept. 27 in a game Wake would probably rather forget than amend.

Quarterback Riley Skinner threw four interceptions and lost a fumble on a day that proved uncharacteristic of the Wake team. While the Demon Deacons (7-5) had considerable trouble moving the ball on the year, they finished the regular season at plus-16 in turnover margin. The Deacs won the turnover department against nine of their 12 games, were even in one and lost only twice: to Navy and Miami.

The Midshipmen (8-4) locked up the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy for the sixth straight year with a 34-0 defeat of Army. The shutout was the third most lopsided in the history of the series.

Niumatalolo, who served as Paul Johnson's offensive coordinator at the academy, is in his first full season as head coach. The program retained the option offense that Johnson used to invigorate the program and earn the Georgia Tech job this year.

                In addition to Wake and the other two service academies, Navy has defeated Rutgers, SMU, Temple, Northern Illinois and FCS member Towson.