In the 11 seasons I've been in this league, the Big 8's only won 3 titles, though two of them came in the last two seasons when the Big 8 was finally looking to be on par with the Great 8. Season 18 was the other time a Big 8 team won, and that was a 2nd place team that pulled off the amazing feat. (The Great 8 has seen a 4th place team win a league title before. Sherlock, remember the Jack Rabbits?) We used to keep track of the wins and losses in interconference games and there were some seasons that the Big 8 just didn't even show up. As I write this, only one Great 8 team has a losing record, and that team has more wins that the bottom two Big 8 teams combined.
Historically, this really has been a league that's had a much much stronger Great 8, and some seasons a Big 8 looks really good coasting through a conference with little competition until the league finals comes around... It's no coincidence that the Big 8's back-to-back titles have come during seasons when the competition got tighter (and the Great 8 payrolls did come down the last few seasons). I think it's fair to say that this season is looking a lot like the past seasons when the top of the Big 8 might look scary (I'm expecting to get trounced on Saturday...), but the higher level of competition in the Great 8 will keep the leaders sharper heading into the playoffs. We'll see, but I'm thinking Anchorage is looking like the team to beat right now.
Don't ask what sort of Chunks they are, you probably don't want to know. Blowing Chunks since Season 4!