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 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 109 | 66 | 44 | 2 | .598 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 13.00 | 9.60 | 5 | 4 | Alabama |
| 2 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 91 | 52 | 39 | 2 | .570 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 11.62 | 8.70 | 3 | 3 | Nebraska |
| 3 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 87 | 49 | 39 | 1 | .556 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 10.71 | 8.69 | 2 | 1 | Texas |
| 4 | Pacific-8 Conference | 8 | 89 | 50 | 39 | 0 | .562 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 10.48 | 8.22 | 3 | 3 | USC |
| 5 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 110 | 51 | 57 | 2 | .473 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 5.99 | 6.95 | 3 | 2 | Michigan, Ohio State |
| 6 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 77 | 39 | 38 | 2 | .506 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 2.19 | 3.23 | 0 | 2 | North Carolina |
| 7 | Ivy Group | 8 | 72 | 37 | 31 | 4 | .542 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.43 | -1.53 | 0 | 0 | Dartmouth | |
| 8 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 5 | 55 | 33 | 21 | 1 | .609 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2.47 | -5.12 | 0 | 0 | San Diego State | |
| 9 | Independent | 33 | 354 | 168 | 183 | 8 | .479 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | -3.17 | -2.34 | 3 | 3 | |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 6 | 65 | 35 | 27 | 3 | .562 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -6.94 | -8.15 | 0 | 0 | Kent State |
| 11 | Western Athletic Conference | 8 | 87 | 37 | 51 | 0 | .420 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -7.86 | -3.92 | 1 | 1 | Arizona State |
| 12 | Missouri Valley Conference | 8 | 87 | 39 | 47 | 1 | .454 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -9.50 | -7.61 | 0 | 1 | Drake, Louisville, West Texas State | |
| 13 | Southern Conference | 8 | 87 | 37 | 48 | 2 | .437 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -11.15 | -9.20 | 0 | 0 | East Carolina | |
Consensus All-Americans