Diagramming plays, coining phrases

Duke head coach and offensive guru David Cutcliffe has a solid reputation for expanding his playbook. Now, he's working on padding out the dictionary.

Asked to describe the changes on defense for the Blue Devils, who are moving away from a strict 4-3 scheme, Cutcliffe said, "What we're switching to is 'multicality.' "

Coming less than a week after North Carolina coach Butch Davis added "expediate" to the lexicon, you have to wonder if someone slipped a vocabulary-enhancing drug into the water pitcher at the head table at the Pigskin Preview.

(We'll know for sure if N.C. State's Tom O'Brien describes Russell Wilson as "dynamicious" later today.)

All kidding aside, Duke used the departure of its former defensive coordinator (Mike McIntyre, who became the head coach at San Jose State) as an opportunity to bring in some new coaches who brought with them new schemes. That will include some 3-4, among other tweaks.

"We've been so pure 4-3," Cutcliffe said. "So we're going to be in a lot of personnel groupings. ... We had a lot of fun watching it in the spring. It really puts a premium on speed. We're going to put a lot of speed on the field."

-- Luke DeCock