I rewatched the BC-Wake game last night (the condensed version anyway), and listened to the BC post-game press conference, and here are my thoughts:
* We put a ton of pressure on opposing teams mentally and physically, specifically their defense. To the point that they eventually break at least on a few plays. We have huge receivers. We run out three different RBs all with different skillsets, and our QB is huge. This last one I sort of underestimated the importance of until the presser. His size alone is a factor. It is sort of like defenses feel when they oppose AJ Dillon and the BC OL and play action offense.
* Piggybacking on the above, the fact that we also go fast - defenses often break down both mentally and physically against us. BC DID NOT break down physically, but they sort of did mentally (according to them) - it's the constant pressure and ability to sustain long drives without substituting.
* The fact that we commit few penalties and/or turnovers puts even more pressure on the opposing D
* We often force opposing offenses to play slightly out of character BECAUSE of the expectation that we are going to throw up yards and points. Our defense is way better and has been really good and not giving up too many huge plays, especially scoring plays of 20+ yards, but we don't really scare anybody as a defensive unit per se. But .. offenses put pressure on themselves because they want to keep our offense off the field and they know they can't commit stupid penalties or turnovers against us and win
* We don't have to blow defenses off the line of scrimmage on running plays. It is interesting to watch. I believe our goal as a unit is to hold up defensive lines and wait for them to panic and try and go left or right. When that happens, our OL just goes with and drives the lineman in the direction they chose, thus opening a hole. The delayed linebacker blitz seems to be the only way to go, but then if our RB takes that LB on and Newman keeps it, the TE pass or Slot pass, or even a WR cross is now open
* Because of the pressure the RPO puts on the defense, I don't really get the empty backfield strategy. As others have mentioned, we run Newman out of this about 75% of the time anyway, and now we don't have Carney to take on the LB. I keep waiting for us to set up some other play, but so far we seem to be "saving" it for some other opponent.
* All that said above, I am really excited about the rest of the season. I know each game is different and hard to predict, so I won't. Obviously, we have the talent and matchup problems to win every game on our schedule. I am sure we won't do that, or pretty sure at least, but I am already looking forward to going against Clemson. I am not a huge Lawrence fan. I think he blinks. I would love to see us get ahead 7-0 or 10-0 in that game and see if we can force Lawrence to make some mistakes. Other teams have. It wouldn't be a first.
* Quick starts for us just put that much more pressure on our opponents. We punt well, our FG kicker is great. Honestly, I think we could stand to be a bit more aggressive on playcalling going foward. I don't mean throwing the ball up for Surratt and Scotty to win 50/50 battles, I mean go fast like we did with Wolford. Throw to the slot. Throw screens to RBs, etc... I don't even think we need to call Newman running plays. They will happen organically when a pass read yields no great throwing option. We need to understand better how much pressure the makeup of our team offensively is putting on opposing defenses AND offenses. (I am sure we do, btw, I just think Coach Clawson has proven to be a relatively conservative play caller considering our high octane offense).