It was never my contention that the extra pub from winning was going to help recruiting volume significantly (though it can't hurt).
it's just a matter of being on natl tv
and having recruits know/assume that you'll be on natl tv when they're playing. if you could get tons of games on natl tv (espn and espn2, plus sportscenter) without winning, it would have the same effect. but you can't.
i feel like i say this all the time, and lots of people never really understand it (not talking to yosh). it's not that they see a team on tv and they think "hey, i want to play there". it's that they see which teams are on tv and only choose from among those teams because they want to play on tv.