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 | 54 | 44 | 5 | .549 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 7.54 | 5.87 | 1 | 2 | SMU |
| 2 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 111 | 61 | 51 | 3 | .543 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 7.49 | 6.25 | 4 | 2 | Alabama, Georgia |
| 3 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 88 | 49 | 42 | 2 | .538 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 7.02 | 6.10 | 2 | 3 | Nebraska |
| 4 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 78 | 41 | 37 | 1 | .525 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 6.87 | 6.16 | 1 | 2 | Clemson |
| 5 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 112 | 58 | 54 | 2 | .518 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 5.38 | 4.37 | 5 | 3 | Washington |
| 6 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 112 | 59 | 55 | 0 | .518 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 4.53 | 4.92 | 2 | 3 | Iowa, Ohio State |
| 7 | Independent | 28 | 309 | 160 | 149 | 4 | .518 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 2.81 | 2.15 | 4 | 4 | |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 102 | 51 | 50 | 2 | .505 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -0.18 | -0.65 | 1 | 1 | BYU |
| 9 | Missouri Valley Conference | 8 | 87 | 45 | 40 | 2 | .529 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3.88 | -5.06 | 0 | 0 | Drake, Tulsa | |
| 10 | Southland Conference | 6 | 66 | 28 | 34 | 4 | .455 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4.21 | -3.45 | 0 | 0 | Texas-Arlington | |
| 11 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 6 | 66 | 29 | 36 | 1 | .447 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -5.72 | -3.21 | 0 | 0 | San Jose State |
| 12 | Southern Conference | 8 | 87 | 43 | 40 | 4 | .517 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -6.84 | -6.91 | 0 | 0 | Furman | |
| 13 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 111 | 51 | 58 | 2 | .468 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -8.60 | -7.57 | 0 | 0 | Toledo |
| 14 | Ivy Group | 8 | 80 | 33 | 45 | 2 | .425 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -19.01 | -16.08 | 0 | 0 | Dartmouth, Yale | |
Consensus All-Americans