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 | 110 | 63 | 49 | 4 | .560 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | 10.26 | 8.58 | 2 | 4 | Arizona State |
| 2 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 111 | 70 | 45 | 2 | .607 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | 6.26 | 2.46 | 6 | 3 | LSU |
| 3 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 113 | 62 | 56 | 0 | .525 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 4.39 | 3.34 | 3 | 3 | Michigan, Ohio State |
| 4 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 88 | 47 | 44 | 0 | .516 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 2.16 | 1.39 | 2 | 2 | Oklahoma |
| 5 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 8 | 88 | 45 | 40 | 6 | .527 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 1.61 | 0.60 | 0 | 1 | Clemson |
| 6 | Southwest Conference | 9 | 99 | 53 | 50 | 0 | .515 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 0.71 | 0.98 | 3 | 3 | Texas A&M |
| 7 | Independent | 24 | 264 | 129 | 134 | 6 | .491 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .800 | -0.27 | 0.08 | 3 | 4 | |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 9 | 104 | 51 | 55 | 0 | .481 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | -1.19 | -0.49 | 1 | 0 | San Diego State |
| 9 | Pacific Coast Athletic Association | 8 | 89 | 42 | 48 | 0 | .467 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | -6.54 | -5.81 | 0 | 0 | San Jose State |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 9 | 98 | 46 | 53 | 0 | .465 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | -12.97 | -10.90 | 0 | 0 | Miami (OH) |
Consensus All-Americans