Cutcliffe recruited 22 fans to buy season tickets during a May 22 visit to his old hometown.

Was the former Tennessee assistant trying to turn orange Volunteers fans into Blue Devils?

"Absolutely," a confident Cutcliffe said Thursday in an interview at his office. "Is that awesome? Isn't that great? We're going to set a record for season ticket sales. If you don't get on this year, you're really going to be out of luck next year."

Cutcliffe has crisscrossed the region on a Duke athletics tour to sell Duke football to jaded Duke boosters and curious non-Duke fans eager to meet the coach who shaped Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning in college. Duke last had a winning season in 1994.

Cutcliffe pitched the four-ticket family pack -- seven Duke home games for $199 -- as "cheaper than going to the movies."

It's going over big. Sales picked up after each speech. Duke also sold 52 more season tickets to event-goers in Charlotte, 58 in Atlanta, 44 in Greensboro, 32 in Wilson and 65 in Wilmington.

Duke likely will schedule its final stops in Raleigh at the end of July and Durham early in August.