As Florida State was beginning to gear up for its just-ended spring practices, head coach Jimbo Fisher chatted about the challenges of being the defending national champions, a position that both he as a coach and the program itself has been in before, but not together.

"We're the national champions and we should remember that, but also that last year was last year," Fisher said in March, previewing comments he would make to Ivan Maisel prior to last week's Garnet and Gold Game. "It's a line you have to walk, but hey, I'd rather be walking it than not!"

The Seminoles aren't the only program who spent spring and will go on spending summer and fall trying to find that balance between seizing the momentum of 2013 success while also instilling a sense of, "but don't get too comfortable, boys, we still have work to do."

So, how does a coach achieve that balance?