There absolutely is a bias. It is very prominent among high schoolers and dumb people in general. I assume that as leaders of higher education institutions, these decision makers are a bit more open minded and logical than that, but you never know. Unless you have a rich history and have been successful in the past (Miami, Vanderbilt, Louisville, etc) the University of *State* and *State* State Universities are usually considered the preeminent schools with the most clout. When USF was winning, it never mattered, and I cant say for sure whether or not it matters in the scope of realignment, but these biases definitely exist.