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 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 99 | 55 | 45 | 3 | .549 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 11.11 | 10.11 | 4 | 4 | Arkansas, Houston |
| 2 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 78 | 46 | 32 | 2 | .588 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 10.02 | 7.00 | 0 | 1 | North Carolina State |
| 3 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 113 | 58 | 54 | 3 | .517 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 7.61 | 6.84 | 4 | 2 | USC |
| 4 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 114 | 58 | 54 | 2 | .518 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 7.09 | 6.90 | 3 | 4 | Ohio State |
| 5 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 89 | 47 | 44 | 0 | .516 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 6.41 | 5.76 | 3 | 2 | Oklahoma |
| 6 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 110 | 53 | 59 | 1 | .473 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 6.35 | 5.94 | 2 | 2 | Alabama |
| 7 | Western Athletic Conference | 8 | 92 | 47 | 45 | 1 | .511 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -0.30 | -0.61 | 0 | 1 | BYU |
| 8 | Independent | 33 | 363 | 183 | 175 | 10 | .511 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | .571 | -0.68 | -0.42 | 4 | 4 | |
| 9 | Southland Conference | 6 | 66 | 36 | 29 | 2 | .552 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -3.66 | -5.69 | 0 | 0 | McNeese State |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 110 | 53 | 53 | 4 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4.72 | -5.26 | 0 | 0 | Central Michigan | |
| 11 | Southern Conference | 8 | 88 | 43 | 44 | 1 | .494 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -6.36 | -6.53 | 0 | 0 | Chattanooga | |
| 12 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 6 | 65 | 30 | 33 | 2 | .477 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -6.66 | -5.30 | 0 | 0 | Utah State | |
| 13 | Missouri Valley Conference | 7 | 77 | 33 | 43 | 1 | .435 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8.46 | -5.48 | 0 | 0 | West Texas State | |
| 14 | Ivy Group | 8 | 72 | 32 | 39 | 1 | .451 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -16.76 | -15.89 | 0 | 0 | Yale | |
Consensus All-Americans