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 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 99 | 53 | 48 | 2 | .524 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .625 | 11.34 | 10.69 | 3 | 4 | Houston |
| 2 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 113 | 63 | 49 | 3 | .561 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .875 | 11.19 | 8.82 | 3 | 3 | USC |
| 3 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 90 | 50 | 42 | 0 | .543 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 9.46 | 8.44 | 3 | 3 | Nebraska, Oklahoma |
| 4 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 110 | 60 | 49 | 4 | .549 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 8.82 | 7.54 | 3 | 2 | Alabama |
| 5 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 112 | 51 | 55 | 7 | .482 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 4.79 | 5.81 | 2 | 3 | Michigan, Michigan State |
| 6 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 78 | 41 | 39 | 0 | .513 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 4.32 | 4.69 | 2 | 3 | Clemson |
| 7 | Independent | 33 | 365 | 189 | 176 | 5 | .518 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | -0.20 | -0.60 | 4 | 2 | |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 7 | 81 | 39 | 43 | 0 | .476 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -1.49 | -1.32 | 0 | 0 | BYU |
| 9 | Southern Conference | 7 | 77 | 37 | 39 | 1 | .487 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -6.41 | -6.45 | 0 | 0 | Chattanooga, Furman | |
| 10 | Southland Conference | 6 | 65 | 30 | 35 | 1 | .462 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -6.52 | -6.04 | 0 | 0 | Louisiana Tech |
| 11 | Missouri Valley Conference | 7 | 77 | 36 | 41 | 0 | .468 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -7.88 | -6.22 | 0 | 0 | New Mexico State | |
| 12 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 6 | 69 | 31 | 38 | 0 | .449 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -9.54 | -7.59 | 0 | 0 | San Jose State, Utah State | |
| 13 | Ivy Group | 8 | 72 | 33 | 31 | 8 | .514 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -10.08 | -10.08 | 0 | 0 | Dartmouth | |
| 14 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 109 | 55 | 53 | 1 | .509 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -10.65 | -10.64 | 0 | 0 | Ball State | |
Consensus All-Americans