1993 to 2015: Memories and Ruminations

I spent a lot of time thinking about the 1993 Independence Bowl this past week.  Not really thinking about the details, because 22 years later I’ve forgotten most of them, but thinking about where I was as a person and a fan, and what the game meant … versus what this game meant.

I have to admit that I have very little interest in re-watching this game, and I mostly didn’t. Since Frank announced his retirement on Nov. 1st, I haven’t felt like analyzing the games in detail. I don’t even feel like re-watching them, because I knew all along, come the end of the season, a big RESET button was going to be pushed on the program.

It’s as if all the game-watching and all the analysis I’ve done over the years was strictly about how Frank ran the program, and little else. It was all watching, learning, and re-hashing, with an eye towards where he was eventually going to take the program, by the time it was all said and done.

After he announced his retirement, we knew where it was going: to another .500 season or so. His story was complete. There would be no more Coastal Division championships, no more ACC championships, no more new buildings, no more coaching changes or recruiting successes or failures. Just a few more games, with a few more things to try to achieve, on a smaller level.

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