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 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 110 | 64 | 50 | 0 | .561 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 9.80 | 7.99 | 3 | 3 | Georgia |
| 2 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 88 | 45 | 43 | 3 | .511 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 9.12 | 7.87 | 3 | 2 | Oklahoma |
| 3 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 100 | 54 | 50 | 0 | .519 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 8.23 | 7.53 | 3 | 2 | Baylor |
| 4 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 110 | 57 | 51 | 3 | .527 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 7.79 | 6.72 | 3 | 3 | Washington |
| 5 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 7 | 77 | 42 | 37 | 0 | .532 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 6.25 | 5.70 | 1 | 1 | North Carolina |
| 6 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 113 | 53 | 59 | 1 | .473 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 4.87 | 5.81 | 3 | 3 | Michigan |
| 7 | Independent | 30 | 331 | 180 | 156 | 4 | .535 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | 2.16 | 0.83 | 4 | 5 | |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 103 | 48 | 53 | 3 | .476 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -2.13 | -0.46 | 0 | 1 | BYU |
| 9 | Missouri Valley Conference | 7 | 77 | 38 | 37 | 2 | .506 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5.01 | -5.19 | 0 | 0 | Tulsa | |
| 10 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 6 | 67 | 34 | 33 | 0 | .507 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5.04 | -3.77 | 0 | 0 | Long Beach State | |
| 11 | Southern Conference | 8 | 88 | 40 | 43 | 5 | .483 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -7.51 | -7.32 | 0 | 0 | Furman | |
| 12 | Southland Conference | 6 | 67 | 30 | 37 | 0 | .448 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -8.81 | -6.18 | 0 | 0 | McNeese State |
| 13 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 109 | 52 | 57 | 0 | .477 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -10.43 | -9.63 | 0 | 0 | Central Michigan | |
| 14 | Ivy Group | 8 | 80 | 38 | 42 | 0 | .475 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -15.67 | -13.94 | 0 | 0 | Yale | |
Consensus All-Americans