An old college buddy ran into an old acquaintance at a function last weekend. Said acquaintance now works for the NCAA, specifically the part of the NCAA that handles investigations and such.
Anyway, there talks touched on several things going on in College Football. When my buddy asked him if he thought UT would be in 'AA trouble for the VIP status, the guy replied that he thought they would not (long version short was that if UT took care of it on their end, all would probably work out as a minor violation at worst). They acquaintance went on to say that he personally was involved with some bigger investigations centering on cash payments. He was unable to elaborate much further but told my buddy that he could figure it out by looking for developing stories coming from UNC and Alabama.
All that I can really verify is that the guy does work for the 'AA. So far his claim about UNC seems to be coming true.