Conference Summary
| Overall | Bowls | SRS | Polls | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Conference | Schs | G | W | L | Pct | G | W | L | Pct | SRS | SOS | Pre | Final | Champion |
| 1 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 114 | 66 | 50 | .569 | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | 8.35 | 6.51 | 2 | 3 | Oregon, Oregon State, Washington |
| 2 | Big East Conference | 8 | 88 | 56 | 37 | .602 | 5 | 4 | 1 | .800 | 7.01 | 3.13 | 2 | 2 | Miami (FL) |
| 3 | Big 12 Conference | 12 | 137 | 81 | 62 | .566 | 7 | 4 | 3 | .571 | 6.42 | 3.96 | 5 | 5 | Oklahoma |
| 4 | Southeastern Conference | 12 | 135 | 80 | 63 | .559 | 9 | 4 | 5 | .444 | 5.32 | 3.04 | 5 | 6 | Florida |
| 5 | Big Ten Conference | 11 | 127 | 69 | 61 | .531 | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | 4.99 | 3.73 | 7 | 3 | Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue |
| 6 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 9 | 100 | 56 | 49 | .533 | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | 2.97 | 2.28 | 2 | 3 | Florida State |
| 7 | Conference USA | 9 | 100 | 53 | 50 | .515 | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 | -1.95 | -2.16 | 1 | 0 | Louisville |
| 8 | Mountain West Conference | 8 | 91 | 46 | 48 | .489 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | -2.00 | -1.53 | 0 | 1 | Colorado State |
| 9 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 104 | 48 | 59 | .449 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | -5.08 | -3.10 | 1 | 1 | Texas Christian, UTEP |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 13 | 145 | 67 | 79 | .459 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | -7.76 | -6.05 | 0 | 0 | Marshall |
| 11 | Big West Conference | 6 | 66 | 27 | 40 | .403 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | -7.92 | -4.80 | 0 | 0 | Boise State |
| 12 | Independent | 9 | 100 | 38 | 63 | .376 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | -10.45 | -5.67 | 0 | 1 | |
Consensus All-Americans