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 | 115 | 66 | 50 | 0 | .569 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 8.33 | 6.07 | 4 | 3 | Arizona, USC, UCLA |
| 2 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 89 | 51 | 39 | 3 | .565 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 7.86 | 5.18 | 3 | 4 | Nebraska |
| 3 | Big Ten Conference | 11 | 127 | 70 | 56 | 2 | .555 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | 7.50 | 5.93 | 3 | 4 | Ohio State, Wisconsin |
| 4 | Southeastern Conference | 12 | 134 | 77 | 56 | 5 | .576 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 6.13 | 2.93 | 5 | 4 | Florida |
| 5 | Big East Conference | 8 | 89 | 52 | 39 | 1 | .571 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 2.99 | 1.87 | 3 | 4 | West Virginia |
| 6 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 9 | 102 | 57 | 49 | 0 | .538 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 2.54 | 1.96 | 4 | 3 | Florida State |
| 7 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 88 | 39 | 47 | 4 | .456 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | -0.27 | 1.64 | 1 | 1 | Texas A&M |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 10 | 116 | 57 | 62 | 0 | .479 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | -2.28 | -2.17 | 1 | 0 | BYU, Fresno State, Wyoming |
| 9 | Independent | 10 | 111 | 55 | 56 | 2 | .496 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -2.81 | -2.48 | 1 | 2 | |
| 10 | Big West Conference | 10 | 110 | 43 | 67 | 1 | .392 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -10.89 | -6.84 | 0 | 0 | Louisiana, Utah State |
| 11 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 110 | 47 | 60 | 4 | .441 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -14.43 | -12.27 | 0 | 0 | Ball State |
Consensus All-Americans