I don't think they get special treatment from the media. Many in the media have been criticizing them because they fired the previous coach too soon and he was an African American. ESPN and several radio shows have been very negative.
I think there are three reasons they have underperformed:
1. Since Holtz the coaches were specialists and not experienced or flexible enough
2. academic standards are truly higher than most schools
3. recruiting depth
Higher then Navy? They have won two in a row and played ND tough in some of the recent loses.
Tougher then Stanford? They have turned their program around.