This weekend, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana will meet in a Big Ten championship meeting that comes with plenty of fanfare.
In addition to deciding the Big Ten title and the top overall seed in the College Football Playoff, the game will also mark a showdown between the top two teams in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings. Such matchups are rare -- even more so during conference championship weekend. In fact, there have been only two other national No. 1 vs. No. 2 conference championship matchups since the dawn of conference title games: Florida vs. Alabama in 2008 and 2009 (Alabama was No. 1 in 2008, and Florida was No. 1 in 2009 -- interestingly, the top-ranked team lost both times).
The Crimson Tide's win in the most recent top-two conference title showdown set up a BCS championship trip that would mark the start of the Alabama dynasty under Nick Saban. That wasn't the only major plotline occurring during conference championship week in 2009, however.
Here's a look back at what that top-ranked showdown -- and the rest of the college football world at large -- was like 16 years ago.
Future NFL stars make their mark for both squads
Unsurprisingly for a battle of teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country, a lengthy list of notable future professionals suited up for Alabama and Florida in the 2009 SEC championship game.
Future three-time Pro Bowler Mark Ingram paced the Crimson Tide ground game, finding the end zone three times on 28 carries for 113 yards, while a wide receiver by the name of Julio Jones tallied a pair of catches. On defense, future NFL veterans like Marcell Dareus, Mark Barron and Kareem Jackson helped keep the Gators' offense in check.
For Florida, the future professional talent shone most on the defensive side of the ball -- longtime Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers standout Joe Haden registered a pair of passes defended, with 11-year NFL veteran Janoris Jenkins also lining up in the Gators' defensive backfield.
Nick Saban's dynasty approaches the starting gates
One of the sport's all-time greats, Nick Saban had a coaching career best remembered for where he spent his longest, most successful and final stint: Alabama. After Saban's hiring in January 2007, the Crimson Tide didn't immediately lift off, finishing 7-6 in his first season before jumping to 12-2 with a 31-17 loss in the 2008 Sugar Bowl.
But by 2009, the Crimson Tide were resembling the dynastic squads Alabama would soon become synonymous with. Saban's crew played in just two one-score games all season, marching to a 14-0 record with wins in the SEC and national championship games. The Crimson Tide's national title marked the first of six Alabama would win under the tutelage of the Hall of Fame head coach.
An all-time great collegiate career nears an end
While the Crimson Tide had one of the sport's legends on the headset, Florida had one under center.
A three-time Heisman finalist (and one-time Heisman winner), Tim Tebow amassed all sorts of stats across his time with the Gators. Tebow finished his collegiate career with over 9,000 passing yards, nearly 3,000 rushing yards and 145 total touchdowns, accumulating the majority of those numbers over his three seasons as starting quarterback.
Florida compiled a 48-7 record during Tebow's time on campus, including a pair of national titles in 2006 and 2008 (although Tebow didn't start on the 2006 team, he played in every game and accounted for a pair of touchdowns in the championship game).
The Gators fell to Alabama in the SEC title game, but Tebow's impressive career didn't end on a loss -- he accounted for four touchdowns in a blowout win over Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl.
Alabama's title game opponent gets decided in dramatic fashion
Conference championship weekend in 2009 offered plenty of national title intrigue. Six teams ended the regular season unbeaten, but the consensus top three throughout the weekly BCS ranking process were Alabama, Florida and Texas.
The first of the two championship game slots was nabbed by Alabama with its win over the Gators, but eyes then shifted to Texas in the Big 12 championship game. Facing off against Nebraska, the Longhorns' title quest came down to the last second -- literally. Trailing by a point, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy drove his team to the edge of field goal range late in the game. In the final seconds, McCoy threw a pass out of bounds to stop the clock -- with a review required to confirm there was still one second left for Texas to kick a field goal. Longhorns kicker Hunter Lawrence proceeded to convert a 46-yard game winner.
But had time run out (or had Lawrence missed), the BCS computers most likely would have faced the fascinating dilemma of assigning the final title game slot to either a Texas squad that had just lost its conference championship or an unbeaten Cincinnati team that had won a weaker Big East.
Big-name coaches in unlikely jobs
If you want to get a feel for just how much can change in a coaching career in a decade and a half, a look back at where some of today's top coaches were at the end of the 2009 season shines quite the light.
The star of the 2025 coaching carousel, Lane Kiffin, was about a month away from a fiery exit after one season coaching Tennessee. Current Miami boss Mario Cristobal had just finished up a 3-9 campaign at Florida International. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was wrapping up his first season at Washington. And Saban's successor at Alabama, Kalen DeBoer, had just concluded the final fall of a dynastic tenure at NAIA Sioux Falls.
And those are just the names that were in head coaching positions. How about Ohio State's Ryan Day, who was a wide receivers coach at Boston College? Or Oregon's Dan Lanning, who was coaching high school ball at Park Hill South High School (Mo.)?