You are just going to have to work a bit harder than your contemporaries at more prestigious universities. All prestige does is open doors (and introduce you to hidden networks). In order to break back in, you will have to be a little bit better. The truly sad story is that at the end of this process, we all will probably be thrilled if ANY school, let alone a prestigious one, wants to hire us.
I really appreciate this post. I too got into the "number 1" program in my field, and I am also a graduate of large state U (and not a prestigious state U either.)