Postgame Effects
Virginia Tech's loss and Air Force's win brought both teams to final 1984 records of 8–4. The loss left Virginia Tech winless in five bowl appearances to that date. The win was Air Force's third bowl victory in as many years, and the Falcons became the first team to repeat as Independence Bowl champions. The Hokies won their next bowl appearance, the 1986 Peach Bowl. Air Force appeared in a bowl the following year, against Texas.
Despite the uncomplimentary media coverage given him and his poor performance during the Independence Bowl, Bruce Smith was selected with the first overall pick in the 1985 NFL Draft. Smith was subsequently signed to a $2.6 million contract by the Buffalo Bills. During the 1985 college football season, Virginia Tech struggled to rebuild from losing 20 starters (10 on offense, 10 on defense) from the 1984 team, and finished with a 6–5 record. Air Force, meanwhile, performed extremely well, finishing with an 11–1 record, including a bowl-game win over the Texas Longhorns. Fisher DeBerry remained the coach of Air Force for another 22 years, eventually retiring after the conclusion of the 2006 season.
Nine years after appearing in the 1984 Independence Bowl, Tech invited to participate in the 1993 game against Indiana. By that time, memories of the legal troubles that had surrounded the game were gone. Independence Bowl president Cecil Lloyd said of the controversy in 1993, "It was the best thing that ever could have happened to the Independence Bowl. ... It got us international publicity. It put us on the map."
Read more about this topic: 1984 Independence Bowl
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“Whereas Freud was for the most part concerned with the morbid effects of unconscious repression, Jung was more interested in the manifestations of unconscious expression, first in the dream and eventually in all the more orderly products of religion and art and morals.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)