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 | 112 | 60 | 54 | 0 | .526 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 7.47 | 6.12 | 3 | 4 | Washington |
| 2 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 110 | 69 | 46 | 0 | .600 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 5.74 | 2.70 | 4 | 4 | Florida |
| 3 | Big East Conference | 8 | 88 | 51 | 39 | 0 | .567 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 5.42 | 3.03 | 2 | 2 | Miami (FL) |
| 4 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 88 | 45 | 41 | 5 | .522 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 4.44 | 3.47 | 3 | 3 | Colorado, Nebraska |
| 5 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 114 | 58 | 55 | 2 | .513 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | .300 | 3.20 | 3.00 | 4 | 2 | Michigan |
| 6 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 8 | 90 | 50 | 40 | 3 | .554 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 2.18 | 0.72 | 2 | 2 | Clemson |
| 7 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 99 | 51 | 51 | 0 | .500 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 1.46 | 1.03 | 3 | 1 | Texas A&M |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 106 | 51 | 52 | 6 | .495 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | -2.82 | -2.06 | 1 | 2 | BYU |
| 9 | Independent | 18 | 201 | 95 | 106 | 5 | .473 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -3.34 | -1.93 | 3 | 5 | |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 9 | 99 | 46 | 46 | 8 | .500 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -6.64 | -5.92 | 0 | 0 | Bowling Green |
| 11 | Big West Conference | 8 | 90 | 36 | 53 | 1 | .406 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -11.79 | -7.66 | 0 | 0 | Fresno State, San Jose State |
Consensus All-Americans