I've long said here and at other forums that Tech fans are spoiled rotten.
We got to bowl games for 21 straight years. Allow me to repeat that: 21 STRAIGHT YEARS. Do people here have any idea what most of the programs in college football would do to trade places with us? Sacrifice their entire football staff to Kali at halftime of their homecoming game would be my guess. Now we have a two hard luck years sandwiching a 9 win season and beat Ugag 2 of the last 3 years and everyone is all "We can't except mediocrity! We need to make massive changes (starting with firing coaches)! I am not a crank!"
Look, I've been going to Tech games for over 40 years now. Believe me, I know what mediocre football looks like. I remember when having a winning season and going to a bowl was so rare it was a cause for celebration. We had a much more equal recruiting and facility base then as well. And it didn't help. What did the job was a series of better coaches in the last 27 years. Coach is the latest.
Has our fan base adjusted their perspective? Not that I've seen. Everyone wants us to be a top 15 program every year. (I'm not sure why that is; I look around the stands and see a lot of people who must have been watching Tech football nearly as long as I have. They should know better.) We can get better if we pony up the cash to do it, but not until. And we probably won't be a top 15 suspect every year, even if we do, for reasons everyone here is familiar with.
Just a side note: the main reason USCe fills their stadium for home games is that they are at night. This has been their plan for eons; having the games at night gives everybody who wants to travel from the rest of the state an opportunity to get to the game. And, since this is South Carolina we're talking about, there isn't much else doing of a Saturday night.