To measure how well each conference performed, I am taking the average rank of all the teams in each conference (including the four independents as a conference) and then comparing the numbers between each conference. As a reminder, the lower the number the higher the overall rank of the conference, since I am averaging each team's conference in terms of where they finished in overall rank and the highest ranked team is #1 and the lowest ranked team is #120; so lower numbers mean better productive conferences.
After running the numbers for the regular and post- season NCAA FBS games for 2011 here are the results, and if you are like me, this is a little surprising.
| Rank | Conference | Total Rank |
| 1 | Big East | 45.125 |
| 2 | SEC | 47.667 |
| 3 | Big 12 | 49.500 |
| 4 | Big 10 | 51.583 |
| 5 | ACC | 57.417 |
| 6 | Ind | 57.500 |
| 7 | Pac 12 | 62.833 |
| 8 | CUSA | 66.000 |
| 9 | Mountain West | 66.500 |
| 10 | WAC | 70.500 |
| 11 | Mid American | 73.867 |
| 12 | Sun Belt | 76.250 |