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 | 68 | 46 | 3 | .594 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | .714 | 11.22 | 8.52 | 4 | 4 | Auburn |
| 2 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 90 | 50 | 42 | 1 | .543 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 4.88 | 3.48 | 2 | 1 | Nebraska |
| 3 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 8 | 88 | 44 | 45 | 1 | .494 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 4.37 | 3.98 | 2 | 1 | Maryland |
| 4 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 110 | 57 | 55 | 2 | .509 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 3.99 | 4.72 | 3 | 4 | Illinois |
| 5 | Independent | 23 | 253 | 136 | 120 | 4 | .531 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | .714 | 3.31 | 2.26 | 3 | 5 | |
| 6 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 110 | 51 | 54 | 7 | .487 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 1.97 | 1.92 | 4 | 1 | UCLA |
| 7 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 99 | 48 | 49 | 5 | .495 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | -1.36 | -0.82 | 2 | 2 | Texas |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 104 | 53 | 51 | 2 | .509 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -1.72 | -2.21 | 0 | 2 | BYU |
| 9 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 7 | 79 | 41 | 39 | 0 | .513 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -5.52 | -5.47 | 0 | 0 | Cal State Fullerton |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 110 | 57 | 54 | 0 | .514 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -6.00 | -5.58 | 0 | 0 | Northern Illinois |
| 11 | Missouri Valley Conference | 8 | 93 | 45 | 46 | 2 | .495 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -11.36 | -10.85 | 0 | 0 | Tulsa | |
Consensus All-Americans