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 | 110 | 61 | 50 | 1 | .549 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 9.33 | 7.84 | 4 | 2 | Alabama |
| 2 | Pacific-8 Conference | 8 | 89 | 49 | 42 | 0 | .538 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 8.81 | 7.87 | 2 | 3 | Washington |
| 3 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 90 | 46 | 43 | 2 | .516 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 8.70 | 7.88 | 4 | 2 | Oklahoma |
| 4 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 100 | 55 | 48 | 0 | .534 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 8.23 | 7.93 | 3 | 2 | Texas |
| 5 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 111 | 56 | 55 | 2 | .504 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 6.44 | 6.74 | 2 | 2 | Michigan, Ohio State |
| 6 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 77 | 39 | 39 | 3 | .500 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 6.31 | 6.49 | 1 | 2 | North Carolina |
| 7 | Independent | 36 | 398 | 212 | 180 | 9 | .540 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .800 | 1.81 | 0.24 | 3 | 5 | |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 8 | 91 | 45 | 45 | 2 | .500 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 1.66 | 1.95 | 1 | 2 | Arizona State, BYU |
| 9 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 5 | 54 | 27 | 27 | 0 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1.87 | -3.55 | 0 | 0 | Fresno State | |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 111 | 58 | 53 | 0 | .523 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -6.96 | -7.62 | 0 | 0 | Miami (OH) | |
| 11 | Southland Conference | 6 | 67 | 34 | 29 | 5 | .537 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -7.00 | -7.98 | 0 | 0 | Louisiana Tech |
| 12 | Ivy Group | 8 | 72 | 35 | 37 | 0 | .486 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -7.32 | -7.31 | 0 | 0 | Yale | |
| 13 | Southwestern Athletic Conference | 7 | 76 | 38 | 36 | 2 | .513 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -9.11 | -9.97 | 0 | 0 | Grambling State | |
| 14 | Southern Conference | 7 | 77 | 35 | 38 | 4 | .481 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -9.41 | -9.06 | 0 | 0 | Chattanooga, Virginia Military Institute | |
| 15 | Missouri Valley Conference | 6 | 66 | 23 | 42 | 1 | .356 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -12.67 | -7.23 | 0 | 0 | West Texas State | |
Consensus All-Americans