If you didn't grow up watching football, why would you be familiar with an out-of-state school? But "being familiar with" and "having heard of" are two wildly different situations. The way you describe it is as if you stumbled upon the Univ of Utah when you enrolled at the Y. Like, huh. Did you know there is a school down in...what's that city again? Oh, Salt Lake City. It's called the University of...something. Utah, I think?

Your post just came off as disingenuous.