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 | 87 | 49 | 39 | 2 | .556 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | 13.38 | 11.51 | 4 | 2 | Nebraska |
| 2 | Pacific-8 Conference | 8 | 87 | 46 | 40 | 2 | .534 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 12.98 | 11.69 | 3 | 2 | Stanford |
| 3 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 107 | 66 | 45 | 1 | .594 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 11.73 | 7.80 | 5 | 4 | LSU |
| 4 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 86 | 45 | 42 | 1 | .517 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 9.79 | 8.82 | 2 | 2 | Texas |
| 5 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 99 | 46 | 51 | 3 | .475 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 8.38 | 9.16 | 2 | 2 | Ohio State |
| 6 | Ivy Group | 8 | 72 | 43 | 29 | 0 | .597 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.39 | -2.36 | 0 | 1 | Dartmouth | |
| 7 | Western Athletic Conference | 8 | 82 | 42 | 41 | 0 | .506 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.84 | 1.23 | 1 | 1 | Arizona State |
| 8 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 8 | 88 | 37 | 50 | 2 | .427 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -2.20 | 0.32 | 1 | 0 | Wake Forest |
| 9 | Independent | 30 | 316 | 161 | 156 | 3 | .508 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | -3.53 | -3.34 | 4 | 6 | |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 6 | 59 | 35 | 24 | 1 | .592 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -4.05 | -7.08 | 0 | 1 | Toledo |
| 11 | Missouri Valley Conference | 5 | 51 | 23 | 28 | 1 | .452 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | -8.11 | -4.94 | 0 | 0 | Louisville |
| 12 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 7 | 77 | 36 | 41 | 1 | .468 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | -10.13 | -8.56 | 0 | 0 | Long Beach State, San Diego State |
| 13 | Southern Conference | 7 | 75 | 28 | 48 | 0 | .368 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -18.50 | -13.01 | 0 | 0 | William & Mary |
Consensus All-Americans