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 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 112 | 62 | 46 | 5 | .571 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 10.74 | 8.16 | 4 | 4 | UCLA |
| 2 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 110 | 67 | 47 | 3 | .585 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | 9.09 | 6.14 | 3 | 3 | Georgia |
| 3 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 77 | 42 | 36 | 1 | .538 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 6.10 | 3.96 | 2 | 3 | Clemson |
| 4 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 112 | 55 | 60 | 0 | .478 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 4.46 | 5.16 | 2 | 1 | Michigan |
| 5 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 90 | 43 | 40 | 9 | .516 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 4.39 | 3.47 | 2 | 2 | Nebraska |
| 6 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 99 | 50 | 48 | 4 | .510 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 2.07 | 2.04 | 3 | 3 | SMU |
| 7 | Independent | 25 | 276 | 139 | 137 | 3 | .504 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 0.61 | 0.67 | 4 | 4 | |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 103 | 55 | 50 | 0 | .524 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 0.59 | -0.14 | 0 | 0 | BYU |
| 9 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 7 | 79 | 38 | 41 | 0 | .481 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -7.54 | -5.94 | 0 | 0 | Fresno State |
| 10 | Missouri Valley Conference | 8 | 88 | 41 | 47 | 0 | .466 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -11.06 | -9.41 | 0 | 0 | Tulsa | |
| 11 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 109 | 50 | 56 | 4 | .473 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -12.41 | -11.66 | 0 | 0 | Bowling Green |
Consensus All-Americans