And so it ends.
Tough to swallow for most in Blacksburg, Virginia, yet still understood by that same majority, Frank Beamer's tenure as not only the best football coach in Virginia Tech history, but also as one of the best ever college football coaches period, ended with Saturday's 55-52 Independence Bowl win over Tulsa.
Saturday marked the 23rd straight season the Hokies played in a bowl game. Perhaps it was most fitting that the streak started with the Independence Bowl in 1993.
The college football world needed one last purge, though, to exorcise Beamer from the game and to close the book on a legend.