With the start of fall practice just a week away, there's optimism all over college football, and you can find some at the Bulls' official site, which is doing 54 fan polls in the last 54 days before the season.

Defensive end George Selvie had just 5.5 sacks last season, limited by an injured ankle and steady double-teams from opponents, but even as a consensus All-American in 2007, he had 15.5. So when USF asks how many sacks Selvie will have this fall, the lowest option is "5 to 9," which another choice for "10 to 14," another for "15 to 19" and another still that offers "20 or more" -- last year's NCAA leader, for reference, had 15.

Of course, the results take full advantage of the lofty options -- more people picked "20 or more" than "5 to 9," though a majority (55 percent) chose a reasonable "10 to 14" sacks for Selvie this fall. Other poll insights ...

-- As to who will lead USF in tackles, senior linebacker Kion Wilson has 63 percent of the votes; Selvie was second, and freshman linebacker Sam Barrington picked up two votes.

-- As to which backup will throw more TD passes, B.J. Daniels has nearly three times as many votes as Evan Landi.

-- As to who will be USF's leading rusher, fans expect a healthy Mike Ford to end Matt Grothe's three-year run atop the rushing stats. Ford has 57 percent, with Grothe getting just 20 percent.

-- Asked which game fans would like to see USF's white helmets, the game at Florida State got 49 percent, far ahead of home dates against Miami (22 percent) and West Virginia (14 percent). And yes, Western Kentucky got three votes.