With all 40 bowls having now been played, here is a look at how each conference performed this bowl season.
| Conference | Actual | Expected | Notes |
| Independent | 2-0 | 2-0 | BYU and Army won close games. |
| ACC | 8-3 | 6-5 | Better than expected and Clemson will play for the national championship for a second year in a row. |
| Big 12 | 4-2 | 1-5 | The worst of the major conferences in the regular season and little was expected in the postseason, but the Big 12 did very well. |
| Sun Belt | 4-2 | 1-5 | Appalachian State is now 2-0 all time in bowl games. |
| C-USA | 4-3 | 5-2 | Both league title game participants were among the winners. |
| MWC | 4-3 | 4-3 | Nice year for the league, highlighted by San Diego State over Houston. |
| SEC | 6-6 | 7-5 | The league performed about to expectation and Alabama will be playing for another national championship. |
| Pac-12 | 3-3 | 5-1 | League champion Washington was the only underdog in what turned out to be a somewhat disappointing postseason. |
| American | 2-5 | 5-2 | The American had some good matchups but struggled to take advantage of them. |
| Big Ten | 3-7 | 3-7 | The league wasn't expected to win much, and it didn't. The East division going 0-5 was especially disappointing. |
| MAC | 0-6 | 1-5 | Miami (Ohio) was a blocked kick from winning, and Western Michigan acquitted itself well against Wisconsin. Unfortunately, moral victories were all they got. |
