The 2015 SEC season has been a long journey filled with ups and downs for teams with championship aspirations.

When the dust settled on the 13-week marathon of a regular season, it was Alabama and Florida that emerged as division champions set to do battle in Saturday’s championship game.

But how did that come to be?

Let’s take a look at the five defining moments of the regular season that led to the Gators and Crimson Tide squaring off in the Georgia Dome:

Sept. 19: Ole Miss wins wild shootout in Tuscaloosa

Most people had chalked up the Rebels’ 2014 win against Alabama as the perfect storm of situation, momentum and the comfort of the home field in Oxford. Few predicted that Ole Miss was poised to beat a Nick Saban-coached team two years in a row. Especially not on the Crimson Tide’s home field. But guess what, it happened. And it set the tone in Week 3 that if Alabama was going to win the SEC West, it was going to have to do it with at least one conference loss.

Sept. 26: Florida pulls off miracle comeback against Tennessee

At this point in the season, unbeaten Georgia was a heavy favorite to win the SEC East and Tennessee was thought to be the dark horse team in the division. There was no talk of Florida being in play with a first-year coach and questions on the offensive side of the ball. A dramatic fourth-quarter comeback, which included a fourth-down miracle connection to WR Antonio Callaway, gave the Gators a win in a game that looked to belong to Tennessee. Looking back, it was one of the pivotal moments in a division race that the Gators would eventually win.

Oct. 3: Alabama crushes SEC East-favorite Georgia on its own field

Preseason expectations were through the roof for Mark Richt’s Georgia team, and this rare meeting with Alabama was circled on the calendar as the moment the Bulldogs could burst onto the scene as a serious College Football Playoff contender. Given the Crimson Tide’s early season loss to Alabama, it could have also eliminated them from consideration. The results from the rainy afternoon in Athens were staggering, as the 38-10 Crimson Tide win showed exactly how far ahead the SEC West was in comparison to the SEC East. It also signaled the fall of the Bulldogs, who would go on to lose two more conference games and eventually let Richt go at the end of the season.

Oct. 3: Florida validates itself as SEC East contender, humiliates Ole Miss

Just hours after Georgia showed its weakness, Florida showed that its performance against Tennessee a week earlier was no fluke. The Gators handed Ole Miss its first loss of the season, which opened the door for Alabama to have a viable path to the SEC West championship again. Meanwhile, Florida’s 38-10 win (same score as Alabama’s win against Georgia) gave indication that perhaps the media had underestimated Jim McElwain and the unbeaten Gators with its preseason prognostication.

Nov. 7: Alabama takes down unbeaten LSU, sending Tigers on a downward spiral

Entering this annual heavyweight battle, LSU was 7-0, ranked No. 2 in the nation and had the country’s hottest player in RB Leonard Fournette. Fresh off a bye week that followed a win against previously unbeaten Florida, the Tigers appeared to be the team to beat in the SEC this season. As it turns out, Alabama showed it was clearly the better team in a 30-16 win against the Tigers, and Crimson Tide RB Derrick Henry (210 rushing yards, three touchdowns) established himself as the dominant running back in the league over Fournette as well. The Crimson Tide entered this meeting needing a little help in the form of a second Ole Miss loss in order to secure the division crown. Alabama received that help on the same evening as Arkansas took down the Rebels in a wild overtime game in Oxford.