Additionally, the average OU student didn't apply to 2 of those schools.
The average OU student didn't apply to 2 of these schools? I disagree. 100% of OU students applied to at least 1 of these schools. I bet quite a few also applied to UC or Marshall.
Cincinnati
UConn
Temple
USF
UCF
SMU
Houston
Memphis
ECU
Ohio
Marshall
Tulane
I'll have to pull rank and experience on you her O. For the past 29 years I've worked in the public and private schools in Ohio (the source of most OU students). Early on I was looking for kids for Muskingum's education department then the longer I got settled into Athens, I began looking for kids for OU. Here are the schools on the list of Ohio students applying to college - Ohio State, Miami, BG, OU, Shawnee State, Kent, Akron, Rio Grand, etc. Other than Cincinnati and Marshall, the schools on this list aren't on their lists. Believe me, it is true.
Well I should certainly hope most of those schools aren't on OHIO student's radars. Just off the top of my head, and now backed up by US News and World Report Rankings (which I might add are not favorable to OHIO), most of those schools are inferior to OHIO.
Only 3 are rated significantly ahead of OHIO in the USNWR rankings of national universities: UConn (#63), SMU (#58), and Tulane (#51). Fair enough, though I personally would have been miserable there and am pretty sure I got a better education at OHIO than I would have there, and for zero debt, its a no brainer.
Two others are ranked near OHIO (we are #131, by the way): Temple at #125 and Cincinnati at #139. Cincinnati is already on your list of schools that OHIO applicants also apply to. Even though Temple is a ranked a hair higher, I don't think that offsets the increased costs of attendance, and it CERTAINLY doesn't offset having to live in Philadephia.
As for the others: USF (#170), UCF (#174), Houston (#184), ECU (#199), and Memphis (Unranked, meaning over #200) are ranked well below OHIO. Even if you want to argue that there isn't that big a qualitative difference between ranks 131 and 170-200+, at best you're arguing that the difference is a wash. Again, when you figure that the bulk of our students are in state, it makes NO SENSE for them to apply to a similarish/marginally sub-par school that is hundreds-to-thousands of miles from home and thousands of dollars more expensive (for out of state students), except as safety schools.
USNWR considered Marshall the #41 regional university in the south (and therefore didn't rank it in their National University ranking). Take that as what you will.
Now, obviously this analysis of rankings leaves aside select programs within the aforementioned schools that may be nationally renowned, but thats what the numbers are: the median NBE school, as presented and EXCLUDING Ohio, is #170 ranked USF.
But I really do think this misses the point: WHAT IN THE HECK DO COLLEGE APPLICATIONS HAVE TO DO WITH ATHLETIC CONFERENCES???? I'll bet you that the type of student that applies to Stanford doesn't apply to Washington State (no offense Wazzou), that the students applying to Arkansas aren't the same ones applying to Vanderbilt, that Penn State doesn't get a whole lot of applications from future Nebraska students, etc.