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 | 92 | 56 | 35 | 2 | .613 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 13.67 | 9.72 | 3 | 5 | Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State |
| 2 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 110 | 66 | 47 | 1 | .583 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 10.70 | 7.76 | 3 | 4 | Georgia, Kentucky |
| 3 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 112 | 55 | 55 | 2 | .500 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 7.84 | 7.95 | 2 | 2 | Michigan, Ohio State |
| 4 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 100 | 53 | 46 | 3 | .534 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 7.45 | 7.42 | 3 | 3 | Houston, Texas Tech |
| 5 | Pacific-8 Conference | 8 | 91 | 45 | 45 | 1 | .500 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 6.33 | 6.13 | 3 | 2 | USC |
| 6 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 78 | 38 | 37 | 4 | .506 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 4.74 | 5.77 | 1 | 1 | Maryland |
| 7 | Southern Conference | 7 | 76 | 44 | 30 | 2 | .592 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.84 | -1.17 | 0 | 0 | East Carolina | |
| 8 | Independent | 36 | 392 | 194 | 198 | 3 | .495 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | -2.15 | -1.64 | 3 | 3 | |
| 9 | Western Athletic Conference | 8 | 90 | 40 | 51 | 0 | .440 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | -4.02 | -2.35 | 1 | 0 | BYU, Wyoming |
| 10 | Ivy Group | 8 | 72 | 38 | 34 | 0 | .528 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4.79 | -5.54 | 0 | 0 | Brown, Yale | |
| 11 | Southland Conference | 6 | 67 | 37 | 30 | 0 | .552 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -6.09 | -8.43 | 0 | 0 | Louisiana, McNeese State |
| 12 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 5 | 55 | 25 | 29 | 1 | .464 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8.20 | -9.20 | 0 | 0 | San Jose State | |
| 13 | Missouri Valley Conference | 5 | 56 | 20 | 32 | 4 | .393 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -10.35 | -5.93 | 0 | 0 | New Mexico State, Tulsa |
| 14 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 111 | 52 | 59 | 0 | .468 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -11.62 | -10.15 | 1 | 0 | Ball State | |
Consensus All-Americans