Don't look now-you probably haven't the last three years-but Duke's quarterback is about to be the proud owner of perhaps the most decorated football resume in school history. He's also emerging as one of the best quarterbacks ever to play in Wallace Wade Stadium, and there's a difference. And if you're finally paying attention, if you've managed to combat apathy for David Cutcliffe's squad for just a few lousy paragraphs, then the fact that Thaddeus Lewis will finally get to enjoy continuity in offenses would make anyone wonder: Is this the year?

Not Lewis' breakout year-that came last season, when he was named to the All-ACC second team and paced an offense that was better than its 4-8 record-but something else: A chance to lead the Blue Devils to their breakout year, the installment of a team that vindicates Cutcliffe's promise to revive a football culture and, more important, see results translate on Saturday afternoons from September to November, December and January if you're a dreamer.

For once, such a bowl berth might be possible, and it would have been more attainable if Duke only had to win six games instead of seven. There's Lewis, of course. He lost his best target in Eron Riley, but the Blue Devils replaced the wideout with budding superstars in Johnny Williams and Donovan Varner, and this year, Lewis has a better backfield than he's ever had with Re'quan Boyette returning to the gridiron to join Jay Hollingsworth and Tony Jackson, not to mention a local four-star recruit, Desmond Scott, who has the Duke fan base foaming at the mouth. It's another person who could drive this offense, and really, it's a set of people: Duke's coaching staff.

A starting quarterback for three seasons, Lewis has thrown away his playbook after every one. New system his freshman year. New offensive coordinator his sophomore year. Whole new kit and caboodle his junior year.

This campaign, his last one, is more about repetition than memorization, about mentoring Sean Renfree, the redshirt freshman who will take the reins next season, about striving for the only laurel that really means anything and finally, about adding another descriptor: the quarterback who changed a program.