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 | 89 | 57 | 35 | 0 | .620 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 13.09 | 9.81 | 2 | 3 | Nebraska, Oklahoma |
| 2 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 112 | 64 | 46 | 4 | .579 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 9.18 | 6.55 | 4 | 2 | Alabama |
| 3 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 88 | 46 | 43 | 2 | .516 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 8.84 | 8.24 | 3 | 3 | Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M |
| 4 | Pacific-8 Conference | 8 | 90 | 44 | 44 | 2 | .500 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 6.61 | 7.01 | 3 | 3 | California, UCLA |
| 5 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 112 | 53 | 55 | 4 | .491 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 5.93 | 6.48 | 3 | 2 | Ohio State |
| 6 | Western Athletic Conference | 8 | 89 | 43 | 46 | 0 | .483 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.46 | 0.91 | 1 | 2 | Arizona State |
| 7 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 77 | 29 | 45 | 5 | .399 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | -1.12 | 2.61 | 2 | 1 | Maryland |
| 8 | Southland Conference | 6 | 65 | 37 | 28 | 0 | .569 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1.21 | -4.45 | 0 | 0 | Arkansas State | |
| 9 | Independent | 37 | 403 | 192 | 208 | 5 | .480 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | -2.65 | -2.07 | 2 | 3 | |
| 10 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 6 | 67 | 36 | 30 | 1 | .545 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2.67 | -4.28 | 0 | 0 | San Jose State | |
| 11 | Mid-American Conference | 9 | 100 | 54 | 44 | 2 | .550 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -4.76 | -6.21 | 0 | 1 | Miami (OH) |
| 12 | Southern Conference | 7 | 77 | 37 | 39 | 1 | .487 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5.34 | -5.56 | 0 | 0 | Richmond | |
| 13 | Ivy Group | 8 | 72 | 35 | 35 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8.11 | -8.75 | 0 | 0 | Harvard | |
| 14 | Missouri Valley Conference | 5 | 55 | 23 | 32 | 0 | .418 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8.76 | -6.43 | 0 | 0 | Tulsa | |
Consensus All-Americans