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 | 111 | 67 | 46 | 4 | .590 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .583 | 8.47 | 5.13 | 5 | 4 | Auburn |
| 2 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 113 | 55 | 51 | 8 | .518 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 5.32 | 4.87 | 4 | 3 | USC, UCLA |
| 3 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 114 | 58 | 52 | 5 | .526 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 3.36 | 3.07 | 3 | 3 | Michigan State |
| 4 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 88 | 47 | 42 | 2 | .527 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 2.66 | 2.08 | 2 | 3 | Oklahoma |
| 5 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 89 | 49 | 41 | 2 | .543 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 2.61 | 1.59 | 2 | 1 | Texas A&M |
| 6 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 8 | 89 | 45 | 45 | 0 | .500 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 2.56 | 2.68 | 1 | 1 | Clemson |
| 7 | Independent | 24 | 266 | 142 | 127 | 4 | .527 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 | .278 | 1.02 | 0.20 | 4 | 5 | |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 107 | 51 | 58 | 0 | .468 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | -3.51 | -2.71 | 0 | 0 | Wyoming |
| 9 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 8 | 90 | 42 | 48 | 0 | .467 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -8.16 | -6.37 | 0 | 0 | San Jose State |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 9 | 100 | 45 | 53 | 2 | .460 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -10.95 | -9.15 | 0 | 0 | Eastern Michigan |
Consensus All-Americans