RUTS3 Conference Realignment Shakes Up College Football Landscape

After a unanimous vote on Monday afternoon/evening from the RUTS3 Competition Committee, the college football landscape will be changing dramatically heading into RUTS3, Season 1.

After weeks of speculation, the conference realignment plan was approved, and several of the top programs in college football will be changing conferences this season, severing years of ties with their former conferences.

"This change is necessary for the success of RUTS3," Commissioner UTVOL54. "These programs will be moving to new conferences, and not only will it make RUTS better, it will be better for college football in general."

Co-Commissioner utvol27 suggested the same, as we spoke to him by phone on his way to celebrate the conference changes at Big Ed's Pizza in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. "This plan offers every RUTS team the chance to compete for championships, while also keeping true to their traditional rivalry games and providing their fans new rivalries to savor."

The change signals a new beginning for the Big XII conference, previously thought to be on the brink of extinction. In the new format, the Big XII now spreads coast to coast in its reach, and Coach cjohnchavis has already coined the new conference the "BIG AMERICAN CONFERENCE."

The ACC, Mountain West and Pac 10 also see wholesale changes, while the SEC and Big 10 each take on two new teams.

Now that the conferences are set, the RUTS Competition Committee will be awaiting the Season 1 schedules, which Commissioner UTVOL54 and Co-Commissioner utvol27 will be drafting over the next few days.

With two-a-day practices already in full swing, the RUTS3 teams will know exactly what their road to the championship will look like.

Here is a breakdown of the new conferences:

Big XII North
#2 Ohio State (UTVOL54)
#4 Oregon (zeejaydee)
#19 Oregon State
Michigan
Washington
Notre Dame

Big XII South
#3 Texas
#14 Miami (stinvol)
#15 Oklahoma (utvol27)
#21 Florida State
Oklahoma State
Texas A&M

SEC East
#6 Florida
#22 North Carolina (ChrisHicks21)
Tennessee (EBDial)
Georgia
Kentucky
Duke

SEC West
#1 Alabama (StuBucksman)
#17 LSU (cjohnchavis)
#20 Arkansas
Auburn
Ole Miss
Mississippi State

Big 10

#9 Nebraska
#10 Iowa
#11 Wisconsin
#18 Penn State
Purdue
Michigan State
Illinois
Northwestern
Indiana
Missouri
Minnesota

ACC Coastal
#7 Virginia Tech
#12 GA Tech
Maryland
Virginia
Boston College
NC State

ACC Atlantic
Vanderbilt
Texas Tech
Clemson
South Carolina
Wake Forest
#8 TCU

Pac 10

#5 Boise State
#13 USC
#23 Utah
UCLA
Arizona
Arizona State
Stanford
Cal
BYU
Colorado

Mountain West Conference

New Mexico
UNLV
San Diego St
Wyoming
Iowa State
Colorado State
Kansas
Kansas State
Baylor

Other Notable Changes: Washington State moves to the WAC, Air Force becomes an Independent