Joel Klatt's top 5 college football teams in each power conference

The race to reach the College Football Playoff is heating up.

Just about every team in the nation is at the halfway mark of its regular-season schedule, giving us a good indication of which teams are CFP contenders. So, I decided to rank the top five teams in each power conference along with the top five teams among the independents and non-power conferences.

Let's get to it!

1. Oregon (6-0)

It's pretty easy to know who the top team is. Oregon showed that it's not only capable of beating Ohio State, but it also showed that it can do it by winning at the line of scrimmage. Oregon did a great job running the football, protecting the quarterback and getting pressure on Will Howard late in that game. Oregon won at the line of scrimmage, for the most part, in that game.

Dillon Gabriel also stepped up and played one of his best games in a long time. He left some meat on the bone, too. There were a couple of throws he could've made that he just missed on. He really hurt Ohio State on downfield passes, completing all four passes he threw over 20 yards down the field for 177 yards.

My suspicion with Dan Lanning looks correct, as well. I've said for a bit that if I could buy stock in any young coach in America, it'd be Lanning. Not only has he built a tremendous roster, but he's a great outside-the-box thinker. He proved that on the play where Oregon intentionally had 12 players on the field, taking advantage of a loophole in the rule book. 

2. Ohio State (5-1)

Even with the loss, I think we can all say that Ohio State nearly won a tight football game in an incredibly tough environment. There are things Ohio State needs to clean up, but it can look at that game and think, "Let's go back to the drawing board, fix the things