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 | 38 | 9 | .630 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 9.25 | 5.54 | 3 | 4 | Tennessee |
| 2 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 110 | 66 | 48 | 2 | .578 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | 7.63 | 5.37 | 3 | 3 | Iowa |
| 3 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 110 | 58 | 55 | 2 | .513 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 3.86 | 3.21 | 3 | 1 | UCLA |
| 4 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 99 | 57 | 46 | 0 | .553 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | 3.84 | 2.88 | 2 | 3 | Texas A&M |
| 5 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 8 | 88 | 46 | 44 | 1 | .511 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 3.07 | 2.47 | 1 | 2 | Maryland |
| 6 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 89 | 48 | 45 | 0 | .516 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 3.06 | 2.13 | 3 | 2 | Oklahoma |
| 7 | Independent | 21 | 232 | 111 | 121 | 5 | .479 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 1.39 | 2.05 | 4 | 3 | |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 106 | 52 | 53 | 3 | .495 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | -0.25 | 0.13 | 1 | 2 | Air Force, BYU |
| 9 | Missouri Valley Conference | 7 | 75 | 33 | 39 | 3 | .460 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -9.31 | -8.04 | 0 | 0 | Tulsa | |
| 10 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 8 | 90 | 39 | 49 | 3 | .445 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -11.02 | -8.38 | 0 | 0 | Fresno State |
| 11 | Mid-American Conference | 10 | 109 | 51 | 57 | 2 | .473 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -11.51 | -9.67 | 0 | 0 | Bowling Green |
Consensus All-Americans