Conference Summary
| Overall | Bowls | SRS | Polls | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Conference | Schs | G | W | L | Pct | G | W | L | Pct | SRS | SOS | Pre | Final | Champion |
| 1 | Pacific-10 Conference | 10 | 116 | 63 | 53 | .543 | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | 9.17 | 7.36 | 3 | 3 | USC |
| 2 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 11 | 128 | 71 | 57 | .555 | 6 | 3 | 3 | .500 | 7.27 | 4.83 | 5 | 4 | Virginia Tech |
| 3 | Big 12 Conference | 12 | 141 | 81 | 60 | .574 | 7 | 4 | 3 | .571 | 7.02 | 4.69 | 4 | 3 | Oklahoma |
| 4 | Big Ten Conference | 11 | 129 | 71 | 58 | .550 | 6 | 3 | 3 | .500 | 5.55 | 3.39 | 6 | 4 | Iowa, Michigan |
| 5 | Southeastern Conference | 12 | 140 | 77 | 63 | .550 | 6 | 3 | 3 | .500 | 4.85 | 2.80 | 5 | 4 | Auburn |
| 6 | Mountain West Conference | 8 | 91 | 46 | 45 | .505 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .667 | 2.70 | 2.40 | 1 | 1 | Utah |
| 7 | Big East Conference | 7 | 82 | 45 | 37 | .549 | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | -0.75 | -1.73 | 1 | 2 | Boston College, Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia |
| 8 | Western Athletic Conference | 10 | 118 | 59 | 59 | .500 | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 | -2.24 | -1.73 | 0 | 2 | Boise State |
| 9 | Conference USA | 11 | 126 | 61 | 65 | .484 | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | -2.89 | -1.73 | 0 | 1 | Louisville |
| 10 | Independent | 3 | 35 | 19 | 16 | .543 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | -4.74 | -4.10 | 0 | 1 | |
| 11 | Mid-American Conference | 14 | 161 | 69 | 92 | .429 | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | -10.32 | -7.60 | 0 | 0 | Toledo |
| 12 | Sun Belt Conference | 11 | 124 | 54 | 70 | .435 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | -11.57 | -7.86 | 0 | 0 | North Texas |
Consensus All-Americans