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 | 114 | 66 | 44 | 4 | .596 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 9.55 | 6.34 | 2 | 3 | USC |
| 2 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 110 | 62 | 53 | 0 | .539 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | 4.52 | 2.91 | 5 | 4 | Auburn, LSU |
| 3 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 8 | 89 | 47 | 40 | 3 | .539 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 3.14 | 2.09 | 1 | 1 | Clemson |
| 4 | Independent | 25 | 277 | 162 | 121 | 0 | .572 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | .625 | 3.09 | 0.83 | 6 | 5 | |
| 5 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 114 | 48 | 57 | 11 | .461 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 1.73 | 2.89 | 3 | 2 | Michigan |
| 6 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 89 | 47 | 45 | 1 | .511 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 1.17 | 1.32 | 2 | 3 | Nebraska |
| 7 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 89 | 45 | 46 | 0 | .495 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0.80 | 0.65 | 1 | 2 | Arkansas |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 107 | 56 | 52 | 0 | .519 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | -1.05 | -1.18 | 0 | 0 | Wyoming |
| 9 | Mid-American Conference | 9 | 98 | 47 | 48 | 4 | .495 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -9.93 | -9.36 | 0 | 0 | Western Michigan |
| 10 | Big West Conference | 8 | 91 | 33 | 58 | 0 | .363 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -14.01 | -8.80 | 0 | 0 | Fresno State |
Consensus All-Americans