What Cutcliffe is saying ...

DURHAM — Anyone truly interested in what might be different about a Duke football program that has won one game in the past two years has to pay attention to not only what first-year coach David Cutcliffe is saying but how he is saying it.

To start the "Cut" era at Duke, here's a sampling from Sunday's Blue Devil media day at the Yoh Football Center.

On how hard he's pushing the 2008 Duke team — "I hate to tell them this but there's a whole 'nother level I'm wanting them to get to. My first year at Ole Miss, we had to send 19 guys to get IV fluids after the first practice. I don't want to do that to these guys but that's what I mean about another level."

ACC NOW SAYS: The 2008 team has lost 400 pounds and dropped many percentage points of body fat since Cutcliffe began his own training program with this group in January.

On what this team has to do to change — "I don't give any great significance to people saying [we have to win the first game]. ... How will this Duke team be in November? I think the team being able to finish the fourth quarter or the season will define this team"

ACC NOW SAYS: In 2007, Duke was in six games in the fourth quarter and won just one, at Northwestern.

On kicking field goals — "People think I'm kidding when I say I'm going to go for it on fourth down. If we don't have a Division I-A level kicking unit, and it's killing me to say that, but we will do it."

ACC NOW SAYS: In 2007 alone, poor Blue Devil field goal-kicking directly resulted in three losses and contributed to one other.

On starting QB Thaddeus Lewis, pros and cons — "His sense of timing, throwing into seams and where to lead the bal. But he continues to change his fundamentals. There is an inconsistency of fundamentals and accuracy with the ball. ... To be honest, he hasn't made as good progress as I would have wanted during the spring. None of the team did."

ACC NOW SAYS: Lewis said on Sunday that whatever Cutcliffe wants him to do he'll do. "He's the boss," Lewis said. Towards that end, though Lewis occasionally used a cuff with plays written on it to help him the previous two seasons, Cutcliffe told me him to not consider it for 2008. So Lewis isn't.

On what he expects of the Duke offense — "It's a tough goal but our goal is to score 30 or more points every time we play. In Division I-A, if you score 30-plus per game, you're going to win a high percentage of games. ... Whatever way we do it, we have to find a way to score 30 or more points per game."

ACC NOW SAYS: Since the 2000 season, Duke has scored 30-plus points 12 times in 92 games. The Devils are 4-8 in those games.