I think there's something to be said for the "old" Iowa under Gable vs the "new" Iowa under TnT. Disregarding any of the controversy over scholarship money, Gable's teams were better, pure and simple. It would be different if the "new" Iowa was in really close competition with Penn State every year for the national title. But that's not the case, the "new" Iowa is no match for Penn State. On top of that, they aren't even guaranteed to be the second best team.
I think if it was possible for the current Penn State program under Sanderson to be competing against the "old" Iowa teams under Gable, we would have some really exciting competitions that could go right down to the wire. But I don't see that happening with a team that is now forced to go out and hire mercenaries just to try to stay competitive. It's possible that in a few years we will see Ok State get to the point where they are giving us some serious and exciting competition. I just don't see it happening under TnT.