Manny Diaz understands that just because one unit is elite, if the team doesn’t enjoy that success as a whole, the team won’t win.

Diaz recalled a year at NC State early in his career when the defense led the country, but the team finished 5-6.

That’s why the Penn State defensive coordinator shared that story when asked about balancing the young quarterbacks with his defense in practice.

“At the end of the day, we both have the same goal in terms of the category we want to lead the nation in, we want to lead the nation in wins,” Diaz said, and added that with a losing record, “there’s no ring for that, we didn’t have a parade. Nobody noticed, nobody remembers that, that’s why I keep telling that story. But I sure remember winning. You win nice things, you win Rose Bowls, there’s a lot of ways to remember with that type of stuff.”

Last year, Penn State was 7th in the B1G in total defense, and the Nittany Lions return 8 players on Diaz’ unit.