I'm not sure how one knows what the national following of any schools is. Of course, ND, Michigan and Ohio State have fans everywhere, but it isn't like they are typical P5 schools. They are the elite, old time football schools with great academics. National ratings rely heavily on quality of content. An awful UConn football team will draw a lot less nationally than a good UConn football team.
UConn has a pretty big following nationally. I was in Nashville for the CMT Awards. About 3 hours after we got to the hotel I said to my wife, "I can't believe how many UConn shirts I'm seeing". I started pointing them out to her and it became comical. They were everywhere. I wondered if it was just because we were in Tennessee and the women's fans were gloating. Just seemed crazy how UConn heavy Nashville was everyday, all week, everywhere I went. I see a lot of UConn gear in my area of Florida but I expect that given that I know quite a few CT natives here.
Anyway, I think people forget how quickly we got some respect in football with a few pretty good seasons. If we had sustained relevance since Edsall left, we'd be a bigger brand because good football combined with our basketball results would be very powerful. We are about 3 great football seasons away from being a really, truly special college athletic department. We are certainly a bigger brand than more than half of P5 schools.