INDIANAPOLIS — As confetti fell on the turf at Lucas Oil Stadium, Clayton Thorson, the last Northwestern player still on the field, jogged toward his team’s tunnel, then stopped.
He turned around, pivoting toward the stadium’s hulking JumboTron, and took one final look at a field that represented so much more than the yardage markers and hash marks. After about a second, reality set back in, and he turned and continued on his path to the locker room.
“That’s something we’ve worked for for a long time,” Thorson said. “So just want to take it all in.