Conference Summary
| Overall | Bowls | SRS | Polls | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Conference | Schs | G | W | L | T | Pct | G | W | L | T | Pct | SRS | SOS | Pre | Final | Champion |
| 1 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 91 | 56 | 36 | 1 | .608 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 13.37 | 10.04 | 2 | 3 | Nebraska |
| 2 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 111 | 73 | 41 | 1 | .639 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | 12.41 | 8.28 | 5 | 6 | Alabama |
| 3 | Pacific-8 Conference | 8 | 88 | 45 | 41 | 2 | .523 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 8.25 | 7.77 | 3 | 3 | Stanford |
| 4 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 108 | 50 | 58 | 1 | .463 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 4.93 | 5.63 | 3 | 1 | Michigan |
| 5 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 86 | 39 | 46 | 3 | .460 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 1.05 | 2.99 | 2 | 2 | Texas |
| 6 | Western Athletic Conference | 8 | 88 | 43 | 44 | 2 | .494 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.44 | 0.81 | 1 | 1 | Arizona State |
| 7 | Mid-American Conference | 6 | 62 | 40 | 23 | 0 | .635 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -0.05 | -5.41 | 0 | 1 | Toledo |
| 8 | Independent | 34 | 366 | 188 | 176 | 5 | .516 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | -0.96 | -1.21 | 4 | 3 | |
| 9 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 77 | 34 | 44 | 0 | .436 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -1.46 | 0.69 | 0 | 0 | North Carolina |
| 10 | Ivy Group | 8 | 72 | 37 | 35 | 0 | .514 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -6.13 | -7.32 | 0 | 0 | Cornell, Dartmouth | |
| 11 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 7 | 78 | 33 | 44 | 1 | .429 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -6.20 | -4.06 | 0 | 0 | Long Beach State |
| 12 | Missouri Valley Conference | 7 | 76 | 30 | 45 | 1 | .401 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -8.37 | -4.86 | 0 | 0 | Memphis |
| 13 | Southern Conference | 7 | 74 | 29 | 45 | 1 | .393 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -13.09 | -8.64 | 0 | 0 | Richmond |
Consensus All-Americans