Big Eight Conference football

The Big Eight Conference is a defunct college athletic conference that was formerly affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-A. The Big Eight was a successful football conference, with its member schools being recognized as consensus national champion on eleven occasions, including the last two football seasons the conference existed. Seven players from the Big Eight won the Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious national award for college football players.

Membership timeline

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bar:1 color:powderblue from:1947 till:1996 text:Colorado
bar:2 color:powderblue from:1908 till:1928 text:Drake
bar:3 color:powderblue from:1918 till:1928 text:Grinnell
bar:4 color:powderblue from:1907 till:1911 text:Iowa
bar:5 color:powderblue from:1908 till:1996 text:Iowa State
bar:6 color:powderblue from:1907 till:1996 text:Kansas
bar:7 color:powderblue from:1913 till:1996 text:Kansas State
bar:8 color:powderblue from:1907 till:1996 text:Missouri
bar:9 color:powderblue from:1907 till:1918
bar:9 color:powderblue from:1921 till:1996 text:Nebraska
bar:10 color:powderblue from:1919 till:1996 text:Oklahoma
bar:11 color:powderblue from:1925 till:1928
bar:11 color:powderblue from:1958 till:1996 shift: text:Oklahoma State
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text:"Big 8 Membership History"

History

The conference was formed in 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association by five charter schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, University of Iowa, and Washington University in St. Louis. After the MVIAA grew to ten schools, six state schools split away on their own in 1928, becoming known as the "Big Six": Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The [University of Colorado Buffaloes|Colorado at Boulder|University of Colorado] was added in 1948, and the conference became known as the "Big Seven Conference". Oklahoma State joined in 1958, becoming the eighth and final member. The conference broke up when its members joined the Big 12 Conference in 1996.
Due to its common history with the Missouri Valley Conference, Big Eight championships from 1907 through 1927 are also claimed by the MVC.

Bowl games

The first Big Eight conference team to attend a bowl game was Missouri, at the 1924 Los Angeles Christmas Festival. Following the 1938 season Oklahoma became the second to attend a bowl game, at the fifth-annual Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. In 1951 and 1952 the conference had a brief ban on its members attending bowl games. When the conference resumed accepting invitations in 1953, its champion regularly thereafter attended the Orange Bowl. This tradition was broken only five times: 1964 ; 1966 ; 1973 and 1974 ; and 1995.
At the 1979 Orange Bowl, #6 Nebraska and #4 Oklahoma were paired against each other in a rematch of their conference game earlier in the season.

Rankings

In the 1971 NCAA University Division football season, Big Eight teams finished ranked #1, #2 and #3 in the nation in the AP Poll – the only time in college football history teams from one conference have held the top three spots in the final poll. In the final AP Poll issued before the Big Eight became the Big 12, half of the conference's teams were ranked in the nation's top 10.

Rivalries

The Nebraska–Oklahoma football rivalry was one of the most significant in the nation, with national title implications involved during many seasons. The 1971 Nebraska vs. Oklahoma football game is commonly referred to as "The Game of the Century."
With common histories dating back even before the 1907 formation of the conference, many of the Big Eight's rivalries were among the most-played in college football. At the time the Big Eight Conference dissolved in 1996, the conference had the two longest uninterrupted series in Division I-A football: Kansas–Oklahoma and Kansas–Nebraska. Many of the conference's series began in the 19th century, including:

Kansas–Missouri, first played in 1891
Nebraska–Kansas, first played in 1892
Nebraska–Missouri, first played in 1892
Missouri–Iowa State, first played in 1896
Nebraska–Iowa State, first played in 1896
Kansas–Iowa State, first played in 1898

All of the above series except Kansas-Iowa State have been inactive since at least 2012 due to conference realignment.

Champions

Conference champions

Following are the MVIAA/Big Eight football conference champions from 1907 to 1995 :
^† Kansas would have won the 1960 title, but after found to be using an ineligible player they were forced to forfeit their victories over Missouri and Colorado, which meant that Missouri was awarded the 1960 Big Eight title.
'' ^‡ Oklahoma initially won the 1972 title, but after it was found that they used ineligible players, they were penalized by the NCAA, though they did not force OU to forfeit games. The Big Eight asked them to forfeit three games and awarded the title to Nebraska, but Oklahoma still claims these wins and this title.''

National championships

Big Eight football teams were recognized as national champion on eleven occasions, including four times as back-to-back champions:

1950 – Oklahoma
1955 – Oklahoma
1956 – Oklahoma
1970 – Nebraska
1971 – Nebraska
1974 – Oklahoma
1975 – Oklahoma
1985 – Oklahoma
1990 – Colorado
1994 – Nebraska
1995 – Nebraska

Accolades

The Big Seven Conference established a Coach of the Year award in 1948. The conference began awarding a Player of the Year award in 1967, and began giving separate offensive and defensive awards in 1971. The final awards were given after the 1995 season, after which all of the Big Eight schools entered the Big 12 Conference.

All-Time Team

After the final Big Eight season was completed in 1995, a panel of twelve longtime observers selected an all-time conference team:

Heisman Trophy winners

Seven players from the Big Eight won the Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious national award for college football players:

Season	Player		Team
1952	Billy Vessels	HB	Oklahoma
1969	Steve Owens	RB	Oklahoma
1972	Johnny Rodgers	WR	Nebraska
1978	Billy Sims	RB	Oklahoma
1983	Mike Rozier	RB	Nebraska
1988	Barry Sanders	RB	Oklahoma State
1994	Rashaan Salaam	RB	Colorado

AFCA Coach of the Year

Season	Coach	Team
1949	Bud Wilkinson	Oklahoma
1989	Bill McCartney	Colorado
1994	Tom Osborne	Nebraska

Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year

Season	Coach	Team
1971	Bob Devaney	Nebraska
1989	Bill McCartney	Colorado