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GREENSBORO, Ga. -- When the new boss called the team the "fattest" he had ever seen, the players didn't revolt. They were Duke Blue Devils, and he was David Cutcliffe, and indignation made about as much sense as a 70-yard field-goal attempt.

"You can't really object to something when you haven't done anything to change it," junior defensive end Vince Oghobasse said. "If we were a fat football team and we had won eight or nine football games, OK, we're a fat football team, but we won. Well, we lost every single game last year except for Northwestern. So you can't argue with a coach when he has done it. You can't do anything but buy into what he's saying."

Cutcliffe, who managed a winning record at Mississippi and directed a Tennessee offense that won a national championship, has more instant credibility than the vast majority of college football hires. Fifty men have served as full-time head coaches in the ACC since 1980, and Cutcliffe is one of only nine with previous experience as head coach at a major-conference school. Needless to say, he has considerable leeway to suggest, cajole and encourage. And if it takes the form of trimming the fat in order to build the beast, so be it.

In viewing game films from 2007, Cutcliffe saw a team that was outscored 201-96. So after assembling a staff with signing day approaching, he moved to secure Noel Durfey, who ran the entire athletics department's strength and condition program at Ole Miss the previous three years, to work with Duke football.

At last check, the Devils had collectively shed more than 400 pounds. Dozens of players have reported double-digit drops in body-fat percentage.

"We had 15 days of spring practice and I wanted to see how they competed in every drill," the coach said. "At first, they couldn't. By day 10 or 11, we were getting close to that. Now the next step is to do that in a game."

The pace of practice is in harmony with the general fitness theme. Thou shalt not walk from station to station between periods.

The Devils, who have dropped their last 25 ACC games and are 4-42 in the past four seasons, and there is no doubt that the season opener is a big deal. Duke plays James Madison, which won the NCAA title in what was then known as Division I-AA in 2004. The Devils need a victory to generate momentum or -- at the very least -- to avoid the return of the negative vibe.

The task is not alien to Cutcliffe, who took over the Rebels for their bowl game in 1998. Ole Miss hadn't had five consecutive winning seasons since it enjoyed seven straight from 1965-71 under John H. Vaught. Cutcliffe's clubs went 8-4, 7-5, 7-4, 7-6 and 10-3 and that was somehow insufficient. After a 4-7 campaign in 2004, he was fired. His successor is already gone.

Duke is probably in a tougher spot in the ACC than Mississippi was in the SEC, a fact the new guy acknowledges. But for now, they go into it with tangible, visible progress in something. Scales tell good things today; maybe scoreboards are next.

"You can't let momentum dictate your competitiveness," Cutcliffe said. "That's what we've got to learn at Duke."

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com