It was not the same. We had parity before Cael went to PSU and bent the rules. We still have parity amongst those not PSU, look at the scores. Gable era, yes he bent some rules, he came in when it had been almost always OSU. OSU, ISU and OU were almost always top 3-5 before Iowa and Gable and the b10 wasn't in the conversation. Those top 3 programs could always beat anyone else nit top 3 in a dual. Gable era it was pretty much always Iowa 1st & OSU 2nd. Its why Seay was brought in tired of 2nd. Not the same now, quite different.
The other factor is the rules NCAA put in place to increase parity (scholarship limits, walk on etc) we threw out the window after Cael went to PSU.