Editing Big Eight Conference (section)

===Split into Big Six Conference===
At a meeting in [[Lincoln, Nebraska]], on May 19, 1928, the conference split up. Six of the seven state schools (all except Oklahoma A&M) formed a conference that was initially known as the '''Big Six Conference'''.<ref name="BorderingOnHatredRivalryWeek" /> Just before the start of fall practice, the six schools announced they would retain the MVIAA name for formal purposes. However, fans and media continued to call it the Big Six. The three private schools – Drake, Grinnell, and Washington University – joined with Oklahoma A&M to form the [[Missouri Valley Conference]] (MVC).<ref>{{cite news |title=Big Six Grid Squads Take Field Tomorrow |agency=Associated Press |date=September 16, 1928 |newspaper=The Milwaukee Sentinel |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KlNQAAAAIBAJ&pg=2423,2457251&dq=missouri-valley-intercollegiate-athletic-association&hl=en}}</ref> The old MVIAA's administrative staff transferred to the MVC.

The similarity of the two conferences' official names, as well as the competing claims of the two conferences, led to considerable debate over which conference was the original and which was the spin-off, though the MVIAA went on to become the more prestigious of the two. For the remainder of the Big Eight's run, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date, as well as the same history through 1927. To this day, it has never been definitively established which conference was the original.