So,
@Art knows. Cheating happens. And it has cost us some recruits. I know this for a fact, at least during the Paterno years when I had some connections.
I've heard first-hand accounts of schools/boosters offering vehicles to recruits... sometimes they present it in a way that makes the recruit and his family believe it's a legitimate perk ("the vehicle comes out of the 'scholarship money' that is allocated to you").
I know for a fact that there have been some very high-profile recruits that were supposed to sign with Penn State but went the other way when the "bag" was presented. Basically what happens in these scenarios is a competing school offers an incentive, and the recruit goes back to PSU asking if they will match. In the examples that I know, with high-profile recruits, PSU says no and goes dark on the recruit after months/years of recruiting efforts.
As for the questions about LJ, he himself has had to say no to recruits who asked PSU to match. PSU wouldn't even have that conversation and simply walked away.
LJ signed some very good players at PSU, but even he never really signed the ultra-elite, 5-star players that he's signing on the reg at OSU.
I do believe OSU has traditionally offered the most "enhanced" packages possible in every way... can't really speak to Urban Meyer or Ryan Day, but I suspect tradition rules the day at OSU. Either way, they have an excellent product to pitch as regular playoff participants but the expansion should make PSU one of the biggest and most immediate beneficiaries.
Also, now that NIL rules are in effect, maybe that gives other schools a chance to compete on a more level playing field. Hard to say, time will tell. SEC donors have fewer resources available at their disposal than us, but they are culturally more inclined to play the money game.