An even recruiting playing field is the West Coast Conference (all private schools) and Big West Conference (all public schools). As long as they all have the same number of athletic scholarships available.
Example: The CSU schools (LB and Fullerton) prior to this year were winning the WCC titles over the higher academically ranked UC schools in the Big West conference.
No surprised that Pepperdine out recruits all of the other universities in their conference, except for Santa Clara. Pepperdine is a top 50 University in Malibu overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
And a wingnut safe space.