Looking at the programs you mentioned, the common theme seems to be poor coaching decisions in the face of a variety of circumstances. Tennessee and Texas had long established coaches who were more or less forced out due to fan/booster pressure, with inadequate replacements coming in. Penn State had the opposite issue, with Paterno overstaying his usefulness (scandal aside). USC had some mediocre years, but even when they were going 7-5, they were beating good teams and not losing by 5 scores like Michigan is. I'm not sure what the heck AD's at these schools are doing, but there is really no excuse for a blue blood program to settle for anything less than the elite coaching options available to them. Rolling the dice on an up and comer or settling for a guy with school-ties is a little dumbfounding. That said, the fans are as fickle as ever. They're already turning on Urban Meyer here in Columbus. Texas is garbage this year, but I think it's a little early to describe Strong as an inadequate replacement.