Right and wrong. There is no natural "winning cycle." Bad choices and management lead to downfalls. Once your program gets down, it takes even better effort, leadership, and decision-making to rise again. The idea that history repeats itself naturally is a fallacy that has been around since the ancient Greeks. Things happen for logical reasons with logical causes and effects.
I wonder if Tulane, Minnesota, Syracuse, UCLA, Kentucky, Ole Miss, SMU, Baylor, Rice, Army, and Navy would agree with your assessment. All of these programs were--at one time or another-- at or near the top of the College Football world. That being said, we have the will, the resources, and the fan-base to be a top ten program. So I do believe we will rise again--but not automatically, just because we have been a big-time program in the past, by any means