But being #9 in Lexington is BYU being the #1 team for the 9th largest group of people choosing a team.
You start to add up city after city and I guess the general point was that BYU is consistently a top 5, 10 or 20 team in many, many cities. Probably not a lot of schools that can claim that kind of regular representation across the country.
So a little here and a little there, everywhere, adds up to a national fan base.