We are down to the final week of the 2019 season with only the conference championship games remaining. The College Football Playoff picture is becoming much clearer, and I only see legitimate paths to the playoff for seven teams. That includes two that have basically locked up their spots and one that could end up getting in with two losses. That may sound like an impossibility, but there is a scenario that would allow that to happen. (Keep on reading for that and more.)

What makes the 2019 season unique is that I wrote this column without including Alabama for the first time. The Crimson Tide are out after a 48-45 loss to Auburn on Saturday. There is also a change Alabama misses the New Year's Six entirely, though that will depend on how the CFP Rankings shake out both on Tuesday and then Sunday following the conference title games.

Without further ado, here is a ranking of the remaining CFP contenders in order of how likely they are to find their way into the four-team field along with an explanation of what each team needs to accomplish to get in.

In addition to this list of playoff contenders, I have released my penultimate bowl projections for the 2019-20 season. Reminder: These projections are not how things stand now but rather how I expect them to look following the conference championship games next week.