Revenge is a dish best served cold, or so the adage holds. For Ohio State, there’s not always a ton of opportunities for revenge. But this week presents one against Purdue, which delivered an epic beatdown in the teams’ most recent matchup, a loss that kept Ohio State out of the 2018 CFP.

It’s not like it’s unique for OSU to have a shot to deliver some revenge, though — here are a top 5 of revenge wins for OSU in the past decade.

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5) 2016 vs. Michigan State

In 2015, Michigan State ruined a perfect Ohio State season with a 17-14 upset in Columbus. Not only did it ruin the perfect season, it knocked Ohio State out of the CFP. The following season, the Buckeyes were ranked 2nd in the nation and went to Michigan State late in the season. Admittedly, the 17-16 win was a nail-biter for a 21.5-point favorite. And all it did to the Spartans was drop them to 3-8 in their worst season in aeons. So again, not perfect revenge, but a hard-fought win in a game that would have been disastrous to lose.

4) 2014 vs. Michigan State

There’s something of a theme here, as the Spartans ruined No. 2 Ohio State’s perfect 2013 season in a Big Ten Championship victory. That 34-24 loss sent OSU to the Orange Bowl, where it was beaten by Clemson. The following year, the No. 13 Buckeyes traveled to East Lansing and took down the No. 7 Spartans 49-37. That win helped springboard Ohio State back to No. 4, from which it made further noise (see below). It also dropped Michigan State to the Cotton Bowl.

3) 2017 vs. Penn State

Back in 2016, Penn State hosted Ohio State as a 19-point underdog. That’s unranked Penn State hosting No. 2 OSU. The Nittany Lions delivered a 24-21 shocker that is probably James Franklin’s biggest win in Happy Valley. Did the loss really hurt OSU? Well, it did keep them at No. 2 in the CFP, where they were drilled by Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. No. 1 Alabama was undefeated, and there’s no proof that an unbeaten OSU team would’ve jumped the Tide. And even if it had, Alabama got beat by Clemson too. Still, the next year, Ohio State took on No. 2 Penn State in Columbus, and delivered a 39-38 win that knocked Penn State out of the CFP hunt — or at least, it did after the Nittany Lions followed it with a loss to Michigan State.

2) 2014 vs. Alabama (game was in 2015, but it was the end of the 2014 season)

Given the narrative that the Buckeyes steamrolled the B1G but couldn’t compete with the SEC (see BCS title game losses after the 2006 and 2007 seasons), this one was sweet indeed. Ohio State beat Bama 45-31 to claim the initial CFP title. Granted, Ohio State hadn’t played Bama in 20 years, so this was more a case of conference revenge than school-specific revenge. Still, close enough.

1) 2020 vs. Clemson (game was in 2021, but it was at the end of the 2020 season)

Having been blasted by the Tigers in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2016 season and taking a tough loss to them in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2019 season, Ohio State had a double dip of revenge to gain. The good news is that the Buckeyes delivered, picking up a definitive 49-28 win to earn the right to face Alabama for the national title. The bad news is that the Buckeyes didn’t have the same luck with Alabama. But still, avenging a pair of semifinal losses with a semifinal win was pretty significant.