Agreed, but it's a universal phenomenon. We'd probably be embarrassed to know how many Husker fans came of age in the Devaney/Osborne era who assumed that the Big 10 and SEC were mediocre teams while only Nebraska and Oklahoma (and later some teams from Florida) mattered. Does anybody have a high opinion of Pittsburgh anymore? Yet they were a perennial football powerhouse until the wheels starting coming off in the 80s. The Florida teams basically had no history to speak of before Miami and Florida State rose up in the 80s, yet everyone still thinks of them as blueblood programs.
The interesting thing about Saban is that he resurrected three storied college programs: Michigan State, LSU, and Alabama. Michigan State had been bad for decades except for a couple of seasons before Saban arrived. While they didn't start winning NCs again, they clearly started getting things turned around. LSU had a long, rich history, but hadn't done much for decades when Saban moved there. Since he left, they've still won another NC, and they've never fallen off the national radar. I don't think I need to waste words talking about what he did with Alabama. People can hate him all they want, what the man has accomplished as a college football coach is simply amazing and unprecedented. Bear Bryant's career is the only one that comes close. I would NOT want to be the coach at Alabama who follows Nick Saban. It won't end well.