Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher sure didn't get much time to think about winning the national title: At a news conference Tuesday about Monday night's victory, Fisher was asked numerous questions about next season.
One of the biggest storylines this season was Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel returning as the reigning Heisman winner and it will be the same next season for Florida State's Jameis Winston -- with the added pressure of also having to defend a national title. Fisher was asked to "analyze the concept of a 20-year-old who next year is going to have one foot to the NFL defending a national championship."
"I think he'll handle it very well," Fisher said. "The thing about Jameis, he's a team-oriented guy and he's not worried about the NFL or anything else. We don't necessarily know he's going to the NFL, do we?"
The assembled media laughed.
"Don't assume now," Fisher said, presumably with tongue planted firmly in cheek. "Be careful. ... You know what 'assume' stands for."
Fisher also admitted that he had thrown Winston out of a recent practice during a two-minute drill.
"I did; I sent him to the locker room," Fisher said, explaining that he was upset with Winston's "mindset" during the drill.
"The thing about two minute that you've got to be careful of -- it's not about you," Fisher said. " ... To me, the key to those is using all the weapons around you, and I think he did that in that game."
Winston guided FSU to the winning score Monday night by going 6 of 7 for 77 yards and a TD on the final drive, which lasted 58 seconds and ended with 13 seconds remaining.
Fisher also noted that during that practice, "We had some points and he had some points, so it's good to be the king. He'll be the king one day. When he's in pro ball, he might have thrown the coach out."
Fisher was more serious -- and made some cogent points -- when talking about the four-team playoff that begins next season.
"Here's the thing I think about this playoff we'd better be real careful about: When I was a child, I remember who won the Sugar Bowl, who won the Orange Bowl, who won the Cotton Bowl, who won the Rose Bowl. It was a big deal," he said. "We act like that's not a big deal now. That's one of the great things you have in college football. We're so involved in winning a championship that we're forgetting the tradition and history of doing things.
"And how many times was the BCS ever wrong? How many times did they ever get it wrong at the end?"
Fisher noted that college football still will have "the same problem. You're going to argue over who's four and five, or who's two and three. What's the difference?"
He said he worries about lengthening the schedule.
"(The players) don't get to go rehab all day," he said. "They got school. They got study halls. They got things to do. Those bodies at that age aren't developed like a man is, and they say, 'Well, the lower divisions do it.'
"Well, I'm going to tell you something: Just like the NFL is a much more physical game than Division I football, Division I football is significantly different than I-AA, Division II and Division III. Those collisions aren't the same ... and you'd better be careful what you're doing to these kids and how you're doing things."
He did say that while FSU came out of Monday's game in good health, advancing in a playoff is "going to be survival of the fittest, there's no doubt."
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
