Alabama is full of millions of Alabama fans that did not graduate from Alabama. Same for Kentucky and Michigan and Georgia and Ohio (tOSU) and Texas and Louisiana (LSU), Tennessee, Florida, Nebraska, Iowa, etc.

It gets amplified in places without pro sports teams. But really, it’s the pro sports model of passionate “hometown” fans.

Obviously Purdue, Miss St or state U’s of smaller generally don’t have that full advantage.

And then there are teams like USC Notre Dame Duke (in BB) or even BYU that have an outsize fan base not purely from alum connections — and without being a big state U — not exclusively built on alumni — But in all cases that frankly wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for some periods of sustained success.