As the confetti fell from the sky and the OH-IO chants echoed throughout the AT&T stadium Oregon senior Derrick Malone was racing off the field towards Oregon's locker room.

Derrick Malone showed how to be a Man of Oregon one last time after being beat by Ohio State.

Malone wasn't looking for a quick getaway from the tough and humbling beating he took from the Ohio State Buckeyes. No, instead he was racing to round up a handful of younger Ducks who were walking off the field without shaking hands with the Buckeyes.

I then saw Malone pulling the guys back and telling them to head back to the field and shake hands with the most recent national champions. Some of the younger Ducks turned around and some didn't. It didn't matter how many turned around and followed Malone back into the mob of Buckeyes celebrating their win. All that mattered was getting one Duck player to turn back around and head in with Malone to the mob.

If he got one younger teammate to follow him in his lesson was learned, and more importantly passed down to the next generation of Duck.

In the end Malone rounded up most of the younger Ducks who were within earshot or arm’s reach and they followed him to do their toughest task of the night: admit defeat and look Ohio State right in the eyes and say it.

"You have to be a man when you win," Malone said after the game of his actions. "And you have to be a man when you are defeated."

This was another chance for Oregon's leaders to share some leadership with younger Ducks about how things are done at Oregon for one last time. A life lesson handed down from one recruiting class to another. Three or four years ago a similar scenario likely played out for a younger Malone and now he’s paying it forward. This was a passing of the guard between one Man of Oregon to another.

Malone has been a part of two national championship games, two Pac-12 Championships, two Rose Bowl wins, a Fiesta Bowl win, and an Alamo Bowl win. He’s seen the highest of highs in his time at Oregon, and he’s also seen some of the lowest of lows in recent Duck history (if we even can count this as a low). His actions after Monday night’s game were bigger, and even more important than the ones he made during the game.

"You have to remind everyone who you are and sometimes the younger guys forget how we do things, and that's okay, they are still learning, just like I was when I was [young]."

Seeing Malone show that type of class after he and his defense were picking themselves up off the ground all night was special. If there's a consolation prize in Oregon's loss it's knowing the guys inside the uniforms sweating, bleeding, and hurting for their program will be forever be known as the type of person they are of the field as they are on it.

"That's the definition of a Man of Oregon," Malone answered when I asked if his actions defined being a Man of Oregon. "I feel like if it wasn't me another one of the leaders would have seen it and did the same thing."

I know for certain other seniors would have seen the younger Ducks leaving and rounded them up. Without a doubt. And that is what makes this year’s version of the Ducks so special.

Losing sucks. Losing in a national title game is even worse. Seniors like Malone leave the field and are associated with a loss to end their careers. Seeing Malone and his fellow Men of Oregon win with class all year long, and then to see him lose with class when it was easily understandable to do the opposite makes him a winner in my book. It's not the win he or Duck fans wanted at the end of the night, but it'll be a nice consolation.

