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 | 63 | 51 | 3 | .551 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .333 | 8.70 | 6.86 | 4 | 3 | Stanford, Washington |
| 2 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 9 | 100 | 59 | 44 | 1 | .572 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 5.49 | 2.96 | 3 | 4 | Florida State |
| 3 | Southeastern Conference | 12 | 134 | 80 | 58 | 2 | .579 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | 4.96 | 2.88 | 5 | 6 | Alabama |
| 4 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 88 | 47 | 40 | 4 | .538 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 4.04 | 1.55 | 3 | 3 | Nebraska |
| 5 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 113 | 52 | 57 | 5 | .478 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 3.10 | 3.75 | 3 | 2 | Michigan |
| 6 | Big East Conference | 8 | 89 | 47 | 41 | 4 | .533 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 2.09 | 1.02 | 2 | 3 | Miami (FL) |
| 7 | Western Athletic Conference | 10 | 116 | 60 | 59 | 1 | .504 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | -0.21 | -0.48 | 1 | 2 | BYU, Fresno State, Hawaii |
| 8 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 90 | 47 | 43 | 1 | .522 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | -0.35 | -0.32 | 2 | 1 | Texas A&M |
| 9 | Independent | 15 | 165 | 69 | 97 | 1 | .416 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | -4.73 | -1.96 | 2 | 1 | |
| 10 | Big West Conference | 7 | 77 | 36 | 42 | 0 | .462 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -9.36 | -6.62 | 0 | 0 | Nevada |
| 11 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 110 | 52 | 56 | 3 | .482 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -10.30 | -8.96 | 0 | 0 | Bowling Green |
Consensus All-Americans