GGSM: 1983

Rice: 9/10/83-9/24/83

The Owls had only one loss (to LSU) before getting their only win of the season at Louisiana-Lafayette, 22-21. It the only game Rice played outside the state of Texas in 1983.

Louisiana-Lafayette: 9/24/83-11/26/83

The Ragin' Cajuns of La-Lafayette had a strange run wearing the mask. They actually went 3-3 with wins over three different non-Div I-A schools, Lamar, McNeese State, and Lousiana Tech, which was Div. I-AA at the time. They finally ended the season with a win at San Jose State and a 5-6 record.

San Jose State: 11/26/83-9/1/84

Unfortunately San Jose State had to wait more than 9 months before they had a chance to beat someone, but they did win at their first opportunity by beating New Mexico State to start the 1984 season.

GGSM: Minnesota, 10/9/82-9/10/83

The 1982 campaign started well for Minnesota with the Golden Gophers winning their first three games. Then they lost to Illinois before losing to Northwestern, and the weight of the Shame Mask around their heads was something they could never recover from, and they lost their final six games of the season to finish 3-8.

During the off-season they figured out how to get it done and opened the 1983 season by defeating Rice.

The problem of the MAC in 1982

It has just come to my attention that for the 1982 season only, 8 of the 10 members of the Mid-American Conference, dropped to Division I-AA. One of these 8 teams was Northern Illinois, and so the Northwestern losing streak of 34 games actually ended with a win over a Division I-AA opponent. Since Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, and Kent State--the three teams that wore the Mask in 1982--have played in in Division I-A every year since the 1978 division of I into I-A and I-AA with the exception of this 1982 season, for shaming purposes, I will treat them as though the did play in I-A in 1982.

However, this does present even more bad news for Northwestern. The week after beating Northern Illinois, they returned to their losing ways at Iowa 43-7. However, on October 9, 1982, the Wildcats finally beat a Div. I-A opponent, knocking of the Minnesota Golden Gophers 31-21. This was the first conference win for Northwestern since the final game of the 1977 season. This loss by Minnesota, I feel, is also worthy of a Shame Mask, one which will be shaped like a Golden Gopher. I shall call it the Golden Gopher Shame Mask, or the GGSM for short.

Erratum

In the post November 9, 1985, it was erroneously reported that Indiana State played in Division I-A in 1985. In fact, the Sycamores played in Division I-A from 1978 when Division I split into -A and -AA until 1981, when they dropped to I-AA. The author and Ball State regret this error.

Therefore, since Ball State lost 23-9 to Central Michigan on November 16, 1985, they end the 1985 season wearing Shame Mask II.

November 16 and 23, 1985

OSM: Kent State finishes 1985 with losses to Western Michigan and Toledo to run their record to 3-8, and for the second year in a row and for three out of four, Kent State must spend the offseason locked in the Shame Mask.

SMII: Indiana State ends it season on November 16 with a 24-21 loss at Illinois State.

SMIV: Eastern Michigan finishes 1985 with losses to Miami (OH) and Western Michigan to run their record to 4-7. It is the second time they spend the offseason wearing a Shame Mask.

November 9, 1985

OSM: Kent State loses 52-24 to Miami (OH).

SMII: Ball State squeaks out a 29-27 win at Indiana State, which was Div. I-A at the time to mark the first time the Shame Mask has been worn by a school not in the Mid-American Conference since the Northwestern teams that started it all.

SMIV: Northern Illinois beats Eastern Michigan 3-0, marking the fifth time that Eastern Michigan has worn a Shame Mask.

November 2, 1985

OSM: Ohio doesn't like wearing the Shame Mask and gladly passes it back to Kent State, who gets it for the third time. This was Ohio's first win of the season.

SMII: Ball State begins its second stint wearing a Shame Mask in 1985 with a home loss to Easter Michigan 27-24.

SMIV: Northern Illinois loses an undefeated Bowling Green team 34-14.

October 26, 1985

OSM: Toledo finally ends its five game losing streak by beating Ohio 24-10

SMII: Western Michigan finally gets a win, beating Ball State 34-0. They went onto win 3 of their last 4 games of the season though to finish 4-6-1.

SMIV: Miami (OH) does not like wearing a Shame Mask. Their second time wearing one ends just like the first with a win the following week, this time beating Northern Illinois 32-15.

October 19, 1985

OSM: Toledo loses again. 16-3 at Northern Illinois

SMII: There's another tie! Western Michigan plays Miami (OH) to a 10-10 tie. A new Shame Mask IV is forged just for Miami (OH) to wear.

October 12, 1985

OSM: Toledo loses at home 26-14 Miami (OH).

SMII: Western Michigan loses their fifth game in a row, this time 24-17 at home to Central Michigan.

October 5, 1985

A momentous day in Shame Mask history! Toledo wearing Shame Mask III travel to Eastern Michigan who wears the Original Shame Mask. On this fall afternoon, Eastern Michigan had the edge, winning 21-10 and ending their fourth Shame Mask sentence. Toledo trades Shame Mask III for the Original, and so SMIII goes back into storage, maybe in a closet at Northwestern.

SMII: Western Michigan continues their losing ways, dropping their first home game of the season 48-7 to Bowling Green.

September 28, 1985

For the first time this season, Shame Masks change heads.

OSM: Kent State scores for the first time this season when they beat Eastern Michigan at home 28-3, marking the fourth year in a row that the Shame Mask has changed heads after the Kent State-Eastern Michigan. Good grief, that's shameful.

SMII: Western Michigan continues its losing ways, although credit must be given for playing at Michigan State and losing only 7-3.

SMIII: Ball State also gets to remove their mask, passing it on to Toledo with a 23-19 win, and interestingly setting up the first match-up of two teams each wearing a mask the next week went Toledo takes on Eastern Michigan.

September 21, 1985

OSM: Kent State loses at Syracuse 34-0.

SMII: Western Michigan takes the week off to nurse their wounds.

SMIII: Ball State loses at instate rival Purdue 37-18.

September 14, 1985

OSM: Kent State loses to Akron 24-0, and while Akron is still not yet Div. I-A. How shameful! That gets another bell to attract your attention.

SMII: Western Michigan loses at Army 48-6.

SMIII: Ball State loses at Miami (OH) 17-13 so that all three Shame Masks stay with their owners.

September 7, 1985

OSM: Kent State decided an extra week of training camp would help them shake their mask.

SMII: Western Michigan makes their first "defense" of their Shame Mask, losing to Nothern Illinois 17-0.

SMIII: Ball State starts the 1985 campaign with a 31-6 home loss to Bowling Green.

November 17, 1984

OSM: Kent State continues their losing ways against Bowling Green, 27-10, and must therefore wear the Shame Mask for the entire offseason.

SMII: Eastern Michigan beat Western Michigan 24-14 after wearing the their mask for only one week. WMU's season is over.

SMIII: Ball State doesn't play this week.

November 10, 1984

OSM: Kent State loses to Western Michigan, 13-9, and must wear the mask for another week.

SMII: Miami (OH) beats Eastern Michigan 23-0 in their first week wearing the mask. EMU had been shackled with the Original Shame Mask from the start of the season until the previous week.

SMIII: Central Michigan also wins in their first week wearing their mask, beating Ball State 51-7. Ball State's season is over.

November 3, 1984

November 3, 1984, was my ninth birthday. I was rewarded by the NCAA with games in which all three active Shame Masks changed faces.

OSM: Kent State lost to Eastern Michigan 20-18 to get the mask for the second time.

SMII: Miami (OH) lost to Ohio 24-19 to get a mask for the first time.

SMIII: Central Michigan lost to Northern Illinois 8-7. It is odd that Central Michigan has a 7-1-1 record thus far in 1984. They are 7-0 against teams not wearing a Shame Mask, but 0-1-1 against those wearing a mask.

SMII: Ohio 10/13/84-11/3/84

Ohio University stood even at 2-2-1 when they lost to Central Michigan to receive Shame Mask II. They then lost their next two games before beating Miami (OH) 24-17. They finished the 1984 season with a 4-6-1 record.

SMIII: Northern Illinois 10/13/84-11/3/84

Northern Illinois gets to try on a different Shame Mask by tying Eastern Michigan when they wore the Original Shame Mask. But just like the time the Huskies wore that mask, their sentence was only three weeks, when they beat Central Michigan 8-7. NIU finished the season 4-7-1.

SMII: Central Michigan 10/6/84-10/13/84

The Chippawahs of Central Michigan were 4-0 before tying the be-Shame-Masked Eastern Michigan Eagles. However, they recovered quickly, defeating Ohio the following week 35-3, and finishing the season 8-2-1.

Eastern Michigan 11/5/83-11/3/84

Eastern Michigan became the first team to wear the Shame Mask for a second time with their eighth loss of 1983, and then lost their last two games to finish 1-10, but 0-10 against I-AA schools. Their 1984 season began with losses to two non Div. I-A opponents Youngstown State and Marshall, followed by losses to two Div. I-A opponents, and then followed that with two ties.

First, on 10/6/84, the Eagles tied Central Michigan 16-16, creating Shame Mask II (or SMII), and making me refer to the parent at the Original Shame Mask (or OSM). Then, on 10/13/83, the Eagles tied Northern Illinois 10-10, creating Shame Mask III(or SMIII).

The Eagles then went back to their losing ways with two more losses, so that they were 0-6-2 for their annual battle with Kent State, and for the fourth year in a row, the two schools met in November, and one was without a win. However, in a shocking turn of events, Kent State was 4-4, but they were still no match for EMU and lost 20-18.

Eastern Michigan finished 1984 2-7-2.

Kent State 11/6/82-11/5/83

After losing to end Eastern Michigan's 27-game losing streak, Kent State ended their winless 1982 season with losses to Toledo and Ohio. They started the 1983 season by adding a bell to the mask by losing to Akron, which was Div. 1-AA at the time, and continued to loss so that they could enter their rematch with Eastern Michigan at 0-8 and riding a 21-game losing streak. The perfect set-up for rematch with the 1-7 Eagles whose only win was in the first game of the season over Marshall, which was Div. 1-AA at the time. Kent State won to return the Shame Mask to Eastern Michigan.

Kent State lost their last two games of the season to finish 1-10.

Eastern Michigan 10/23/82-11/6/82

The 1982 season for the Eastern Michigan Eagles was pretty miserable. During their 11 games, they scored at total of 85 points. 85! Heading into their match-up with Shame Mask wearing Northern Illinois, they had lost their first six games of the season, and stretching back to 1980, they had lost 25 games in a row. This included starting the season with losses to Akron and Lousiana Tech, neither of which were in Division I-A at the time. To make matters more frustrating, EMU had lost their two games before playing NIU by a total of two points: 20-19 at Toledo (the 19 was their highest scoring game of the season) and then 14-13 to Ohio. Then they lost 10-0 to Northern Illinois and were forced to take possession of the Shame Mask.

The following week, EMU lost at Ball State 16-7 to set up a titanic match-up against Kent State. Eastern Michigan entered with a 27-game losing streak. Kent State had lost 10 games in a row, with their last win coming last season against against Easter Michigan. EMU earned their revenge with a 9-7 win and celebrated by sprinting across the field, pinning the Golden Flashes to the turf and securing the Shame Mask firmly around their--well I'm not sure what part of the anatomy a Golden Flash could wear a Shame Mask, but they got it nonetheless.

Eastern Michigan lost their next game, but tied Western Michigan to finish the season 1-9-1.

Northern Illinois 9/25/82-10/23/82

Two hours after I write this, Northern Illinois will take on Akron in the MAC championship game, and during the last few years, Northern Illinois has had some very good teams and represent the Mid-American Conference well. However, it is the Huskies of NIU that Northwestern finally beat to end their 34-game losing streak, and therefore became the first team to wear the Shame Mask.

Northern Illinois began the 1982 campaign with a loss at Toledo followed by a home win over the Kent State team that would lose every game they played that year. Then on September 25, 1982, NIU headed into the city take on the Wildcats of Northwestern. The Huskies lost 31-6 and returned home westward to DeKalb, tail between its legs, Shame Mask shackled around its face.

The following week, they lost at home to Ball State by the score of 14-7, and then after a week off, they lost a squeaker at Bowling Green 20-18.

At 1-4, things were looking down for the Huskies, but then the Eagles of Eastern Michigan rolled into DeKalb on October 23, and NIU won 10-0.

With the Shame Mask now removed, the season brightened for Northern Illinois. While they did lose the following week, they won their final game of three games of the season to finish with a 5-5 record.