USC tanked because of the sanctions. Michigan will improve but Rich-Rod set them back a few years.
As for Notre Dame, there are many jobs I'd take over going there. Notre Dame is one of the few schools where a coach would face more scrutiny than at Bama. They are more pomp and pageantry than anything these days. Indiana isn't exactly a hot bed of talent so they have to go outside the state. Notre Dame hasn't been a force in years. The recruits of today want to see some form of progress so they feel they will be a part of something big. They will have a hard time recruiting against the schools in major conferences.