College football players are grinding through an NCAA-allowed 29 practices before kickoff on Sept. 1 -- but the sessions these days are not like the old ones.

Teams used to hold twice-a-day workouts for two or three straight weeks before the games began. But no more. The NCAA doesn't permit two-a-days on consecutive days. Double practices are prohibited for the first five days of practice. And teams are spending more time on year-round conditioning. Virginia Tech players, for example, won't have any double days this year.

Wake Forest has only six. N.C. State, North Carolina and Duke each scheduled just four two-a-days.

Even so, Duke's standout senior defensive end Patrick Bailey can attest to the fact that the few two-a-days held are still long and grueling. Here's a look at how Bailey fared in one on Wednesday last week.

6:02 A.M. UP EARLY/FIRST PRACTICE

When the alarm clock blares, Bailey doesn't feel like bounding out of bed.

He is still stiff from the previous day's scrimmage. And he knows he faces a marathon of sweating, meetings and trips to the training room.

After eggs, French toast and orange juice, Bailey appears at the first of three meetings.

By 9:45 a.m., when many folks are sipping a mid-morning coffee at the office, Bailey is on the practice field. "Nicked" up, Bailey was held out of contact drills. He stretches and tosses a football.

Harold "Mack" McElhaney, a Blue Devils fullback and linebacking standout in the 1950s, recalled how things have changed.

"We ate salt pills like they were peanuts, and they frowned at drinking water,'' said McElhaney, now an assistant to the athletics director at Duke. "Sometimes [we] would go out three times in a day. It was drudgery. You couldn't wait until game week."

12:27 P.M., EAT, EAT, EAT

Bailey, 6 feet 4 and 240 pounds, typically loses five to 10 pounds per practice.

He arrives at the "Devil's Den" for lunch and hits the buffet line as hard as he does an opponent at the line of scrimmage. To keep his playing weight up, Bailey figures he consumes about 4,000 calories a day.

Lunch includes a steak sandwich, chicken, rice, two chocolate chip cookies and plenty to drink. Bailey likes to slip in a nap and do some reading after lunch. This day, the two-time ACC All-Academic player with a 3.2 grade-point average in electrical and computer engineering meets with a professor about an independent study course.

3:30 P.M., MEET, MEET, MEET

There's more to football than running, blocking and tackling. The Blue Devils huddle three times with coaches during the day, most often to review practice tapes and learn new schemes.

Bailey, Duke's co-Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2006, is reminded to keep his hands up and make the correct "first step" on plays.

Later, a representative from the Meineke Car Care Bowl visits and shows the Blue Devils a DVD of what it's like to go bowling. Dreams are developed.4:45 P.M., BACK ON THE FIELD

Practice starts in heat pushing 100 degrees. Trainers watch carefully. Giant fans blow on the sidelines. Water and Gatorade are plentiful.

Practice periods, broken down into 24 five-minute sections, move briskly with snaps, crackles and pops. The toughest for Bailey comes on punt coverage. He has to execute a blocking technique, then sprint 40 yards -- eight times.

"This ain't no place for women and children!" yells an assistant coach.

11:27 P.M., OFF TO BED

Though they are demanding and draining, Bailey recognizes value in two-a-day practices.

"You get extra endurance that you need in a game,'' he explains. "It helps you think when you are tired. That is the one thing you can not prepare for anywhere else."

Duke coach Ted Roof says the challenge is to find a balance -- prepare players and get in enough repetitions but don't overwork them and take a tired team into the season. Not allowing teams to practice twice in one day back-to-back is healthier and safer, he said.

Every day "you have to always manage the heat," Duke head football trainer Hap Zarzour said. "[And players] get injuries ... kids get sick ... [but] they fight through it. They are tough."

After a final 9 p.m. meeting, Bailey tries to unwind. He watches a little TV, snacks, reads and reviews the day with his roommate, freshman Adam Banks. He's asleep at 11:27 p.m.

Two-a-days, said Bailey, "seem more like two days."