Opponent Preview: Wake Forest Forest Film Review (Powered By WePlayed)

What can Boston College expect this weekend?

On Saturday, the #24 Wake Forest Demon Deacons will stroll into Alumni Stadium to take on the Eagles. At 4-0, they have beaten two opponents of note (UNC and Utah State) along with two lower teams in Rice and Elon. As an undefeated team, what is it that makes Wake Forest so dangerous? Today we are going to discuss, by reviewing gamefilm on WePlayed. I have attached the link to watch specific examples of my talking points here, and it is worth stopping over and taking a look. Check it out!

* Wake runs a spread offense with a heavy dosage of RPO thrown in. But this offense is different than any other RPO that you will see in college football. Most other teams will have the option happen quickly, with either the pass, keep or run happening almost instantaneously. Dave Clawson's system has a unique wrinkle to this, in that Newman holds the ball an extra second in the RBs chest before making his read. It's actually pretty ingenious because that hesitation can freeze the linebackers and safeties who can't react and allows WRs to get a step on their coverage. This can lead to explosive plays, which Wake is great at, as they are in the top 14 in the country.  Watch the film examples in the link above to see what I mean.  

* Wake has arguably the 2nd best quarterback, and right now the statistically the best in the ACC in Jamie Newman. He is an absolute truck at quarterback, big and physical who is punishing to tackle when he runs, and shows a surprisingly accurate arm. There was one play against Utah State on the goal line where he dragged three to four defenders into the end zone with him.  He has all the tools as he is a gifted runner too with good but not elite speed. He is incredibly dangerous and could give BC fits on Saturday. 

*Newman has some weapons around him as well that fit well into his skill set. Wide receivers Sage Surratt and Scotty Washington are both over 6'3, and have good hands which obviously will be a challenge for any secondary. Newman just gets the ball up in their direction and they go up and get it. Brandon Sebastian and Tate Haynes actually match up size wise pretty well with the duo. Kendall Hinton who was Wake's starting QB is now a WR along with Steven Claude and they both have had solid starts to the season, and if Wake spreads out BC they could be a problem

* One of the biggest issues I saw watching the film in terms of matchup for BC is Wake running back Kenneth Walker III. We all know Cade Carney, who is like a bowling bowl, a tough physical runner who ran for over 100 yards last year, but Walker is a different animal. He is lightning quick, and uses that speed to get to the outside and burn past slower linebackers. Watching him I had flashbacks to the runs that Kansas pulled off against BC, I think Walker III could hit that second level and hit multiple explosive plays if the Eagles are sloppy in their gap integrity and tackling. 

* Offensive line is really good. For all the drop backs that Newman takes he has only been sacked four times this season. Nothing flashy here by the line but they keep a clean pocket, and for a team like BC who has struggled to rush the quarterback that could be a huge problem on Saturday. They get to the quarterback a lot too, with 13 sacks on the season. 

* Now on to the defense. I watched two games, one against UNC and one against Utah State. I have to say there was only limited information I could get on UNC because their offense seemed to be predicated on having Sam Howell run around like a maniac trying to make all the plays. Given that BC probably won't do anything like that, I moved on to Utah State that had a style more similar to the Eagles. They run a tempo offense, with much more passing, but given what BC did to Wake through the air last year, I thought it was worth observing. 

* Wake has a strong defensive line that doesn't get beat by long runs, they keep everything mostly manageable and the front seven make tackles with few blown assignments. The linebackers are very quick, and the team does a great job swarming to the ball. 

* However, when Utah State used tempo the front seven wilted and started to give up chunk plays. I would say that would be just because their QB Jordan Love is really good, but Anthony Brown did the same thing to them last year. After beating up the line a bit, Utah State was able to break through with a huge run, and some explosives. I think if BC can run an effective tempo offense they can wear down this defense and score some points. 

* The cornerbacks didn't stand out to me, they made one big play I saw an interception in the end zone but that was on a badly underthrown ball. Otherwise Jordan Love picked them apart. Again, BC focused on the pass last year and Anthony Brown had a career game with 5 touchdowns. I could see the Eagles game planning that again, because the pass defense is clearly an issue.