College-Football Notebook: Deacons' Skinner could be ready to go Saturday

■ Riley Skinner's chances of playing quarterback for Wake Forest against Georgia Tech on Saturday improved yesterday when he was upgraded from questionable to probable, pending a final evaluation by the medical staff.

Steve Shutt, Wake Forest's assistant director of athletics for media relations, said the final evaluation is expected to come today, at which time Skinner could be cleared to play.

Skinner spent the week recovering from a concussion he received in the final seven minutes of last Saturday's 28-27 loss to Miami. He returned to practice Tuesday on a limited basis, and did a little more on Wednesday, but wasn't involved in any contact.

Backup Ryan McManus has spent the week preparing to play if Skinner isn't available.

■ Athletics Director Craig Littlepage said that a decision on Al Groh's future as Virginia's football coach will come at the end of the season.

Littlepage said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that Groh will be evaluated on his "full body of work" and that the school's goal is to have fan support at games.

That suggests that Groh's ninth season at his alma mater could be his last. Virginia is in the midst of another losing season with dwindling fan support and is 3-5 heading heading into Saturday's game at Miami. Virginia is averaging 46,605 fans for its five home games, down more than 7,000 over what last year's 5-7 team drew.

■ The ACC will send teams to the Sun and Independence bowls starting next year.

The league said yesterday that it renewed six bowl deals and reached agreements with two others for the four-year period from 2010 to 2013.

The Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, matches a Pac-10 team against either the ACC's title-game loser or its third selection after the Bowl Championship Series. The Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., matches the league's sixth post-BCS selection against the Mountain West's No. 3 pick.

The league also extended deals with the Orange, Chick-fil-A, Champs Sports, Meineke, Music City and EagleBank bowls. If an additional ACC team is eligible, the conference will conditionally send its eighth post-BCS pick to San Francisco's Emerald Bowl.

■ The first major-college football game at the new Meadowlands Stadium will feature Rutgers and Army next Oct. 16. It will be the 37th game between the teams and the 10th at the Meadowlands, with the first nine being played at Giants Stadium.

There is a chance that the first college game at the new home for the Jets and Giants will be between FCS teams. Giants Stadium has been the site for the New York Urban League Classic for more than three decades. There is a chance that another classic will be played at the new stadium before the Rutgers-Army game. Talks are in progress but nothing has been completed.

The new stadium will seat 82,500 fans and features 9,500 club seats and 222 luxury suites. It will be the NFL's third-largest stadium.

■ The NCAA has rejected a final appeal to reinstate Dez Bryant, and Oklahoma State probably has seen the last of its All-America receiver.

The NCAA rejected Oklahoma State's appeal to reinstate Bryant, a junior, yesterday, meaning he won't be back this season. He is considered a top NFL prospect and few expect him to play another season in Stillwater.

Bryant sat out the last five games for No. 18 Oklahoma State (6-2, 3-1 Big 12) after the school ruled him ineligible for lying to an NCAA investigator looking into Bryant's offseason meeting with Deion Sanders, a former NFL player The NCAA decided last week that Bryant should be suspended until next September, and OSU appealed.

The NCAA indicated in its initial decision that it was showing leniency toward Bryant since it could have taken his eligibility away entirely.

■ The Western Athletic Conference has suspended a replay official for one game after he failed to overturn a call in a game last weekend between San Jose State and Boise State.

Official Michael Goshima's one-game suspension will go into effect this weekend.

The suspension -- the first of a WAC replay official since the NCAA implemented instant replay in 2006 -- was based on a play in which a runner was ruled short of a first down and Goshima's review incorrectly upheld the ruling on the field.

The WAC said that upon further inspection, "the runner clearly made the first down and the call should have been reversed."

In 2003, the WAC suspended an entire crew for a series of mistakes at the end of a game between San Jose State and Hawaii.

■ Coach Steve Fairchild of Colorado State has shaken up his coaching staff, reassigning offensive coordinator Greg Peterson to concentrate full-time on recruiting.

Fairchild made the coaching change in the midst of a six-game skid that dropped the Rams to 3-6.

Peterson's duties of coaching the wide receivers also were stripped. Fairchild and graduate assistant Darrell Ballard, in addition to the other four full-time members of the offensive coaching staff, will coach the wide receivers for the remainder of the season.

Fairchild has been calling the offensive plays since becoming head coach in 2008, when Peterson was among his first hires.