It is my opinion that the whole "unsprung mass" thing has always been a bit exaggerated, as least with regards to acceleration (handling is something else altogether).
Light Wheels Vs Heavy Wheels - Wheel Tech - Comparison - Car Craft - Hot Rod Network
They took off 82 pounds and gained a tenth; if you were following the ratios people spout online of 1 unsprung = 5 sprung (I've seen people say 1:10!), you'd expect an equivalent change to reducing 400 pounds, which is just not borne out by their testing. In my experience (I've had about 4 different drag cars through the years), the change in acceleration from lighter wheels and tires is practically negligible on the strip unless you're combining it with other weight reduction or power adders. I checked the weight of the tires on tire rack and the raptor tires weigh 65 pounds vs the Lariat's 39 pounds (no clue on the wheels), so I just can't agree that unsprung weight is a big factor here.
I think you're more on the nose when you suggest that the "regular" ecoboost is underrated; I think the "tuned" ecoboost in the Raptor MIGHT put out those numbers on 93 octane and with a good example of the engine, whereas the numbers on the regular F-150 are more conservative, and so the engines are much closer in power production than Ford claims.
I'm going to see if I can dig up dyno graphs of both engines, I'm very curious about it now.
