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 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 90 | 53 | 33 | 5 | .610 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 17.06 | 12.64 | 3 | 4 | Oklahoma |
| 2 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 110 | 68 | 45 | 3 | .599 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .167 | 10.31 | 7.40 | 5 | 3 | Alabama |
| 3 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 110 | 52 | 56 | 2 | .482 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 10.29 | 10.19 | 2 | 2 | Michigan, Ohio State |
| 4 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 87 | 45 | 42 | 2 | .517 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 7.12 | 7.06 | 2 | 2 | Texas |
| 5 | Pacific-8 Conference | 8 | 89 | 40 | 48 | 1 | .455 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 5.74 | 7.10 | 2 | 2 | USC |
| 6 | Mid-American Conference | 6 | 63 | 41 | 23 | 0 | .641 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.92 | -2.66 | 0 | 1 | Miami (OH) |
| 7 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 77 | 33 | 44 | 2 | .430 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 0.64 | 2.98 | 2 | 2 | North Carolina State |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 8 | 89 | 44 | 46 | 0 | .489 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.29 | 0.41 | 1 | 1 | Arizona, Arizona State |
| 9 | Independent | 36 | 389 | 194 | 194 | 5 | .500 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | -2.75 | -2.50 | 3 | 4 | |
| 10 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 5 | 54 | 24 | 25 | 5 | .491 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4.14 | -6.21 | 0 | 0 | San Diego State | |
| 11 | Southern Conference | 8 | 86 | 41 | 44 | 1 | .483 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8.45 | -7.32 | 0 | 0 | East Carolina | |
| 12 | Ivy Group | 8 | 71 | 34 | 34 | 3 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -11.18 | -11.09 | 0 | 0 | Dartmouth | |
| 13 | Missouri Valley Conference | 7 | 77 | 29 | 47 | 1 | .383 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -14.84 | -9.83 | 0 | 0 | North Texas, Tulsa | |
Consensus All-Americans