Akrum Wadley and the Iowa Hawkeyes slipped and slid their way to a 27-20 victory over Boston College on the frozen tundra of Yankee Stadium, putting an end to the Hawkeyes five-game losing streak in bowls.
Wadley, a native of Newark, New Jersey, who was playing in front of a large contingent of family and friends, did most of the work for the Hawkeyes in his final college game. He finished with 88 yards rushing, 24 yards receiving and 171 yards on kick returns. Wadley finished the game with 283 all-purpose yards on a night when his entire team only had 372. To say he carried the load would be an understatement. His performance was the key to Iowa winning its first bowl game since the 2010 Insight Bowl.
Of course, while Wadley's performance was impressive, the bigger story of the game may have been the conditions it was played in. With temperatures below freezing, the turf at Yankee Stadium was frozen solid. This made it look as though both teams were playing on an ice rink. Boston College players, in particular, were slipping all over the place early in the game and then decided to change shoes, going from cleats to flat-bottomed turf shoes. The theory was that, if the ground is frozen solid, cleats won't do you much use if they can't penetrate the surface. Still, even after switching, players from both teams were having problems with their footing.
Ball carriers who dared to change direction usually found themselves falling on their butts instead, and offensive linemen looking to get footing to hold up against a pass rush often found their effort to be futile.
The teams did seem to adjust, however, adapting their gameplans to deal with the difficult conditions, and the running backs dominated the day. While Akrum Wadley had a monster game for the Hawkeyes, the star of the Boston College offense was freshman A.J. Dillon. Dillon finished with 157 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries.