CBS Sports Network’s INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL team of Aaron Taylor, Brian Jones, Christian Fauria and Randy Cross provide their thoughts and analysis on the release of the first College Football Playoff rankings. For more college football news, insights and analysis, watch INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL tonight (8:00-10:00 PM, ET) on CBS Sports Network.

AARON TAYLOR: Now we have a point of reference. Where these teams start is irrelevant. Where they end up is what matters. Most of these teams will play each other. We need to be patient. What we learned from the BCS is that seldom does the first poll reflect who ends up playing at the end of the year. Only twice in the 16 years that the BCS had its poll did the first two teams that came out atop the poll end up playing for the National Championship. Bottom line: This thing is far from over.

BRIAN JONES: I’m not surprised. I can see Ole Miss being in the Top Four, even though they are coming off a loss. They beat Alabama head-to-head, so that is why Ole Miss trumps Alabama with one loss. I went back-and-forth with having Auburn in my Top Four. You look at their loss against Mississippi State – they made a lot of mistakes. And they didn’t play well last week against South Carolina. So the last impression we have of them, defensively at least, is not good. So I did not have Auburn in my Top Four.

CHRISTIAN FAURIA: It is pretty much what I thought it was going to be. I’m not going to get too down or too up based on the very first ranking. I think in the next three weeks things will sort themselves out and it will be even easier to rank these teams.

RANDY CROSS: My first thought is I don’t think much of it. It is crazy. Notre Dame should be considerably higher than Number 10. Georgia should be somewhere in that seven area. There is no doubt that at minimum two of those teams won’t be there at the end.

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