Penn State football started its journey to a national title with a soft season opener against Nevada on Saturday, but defensive star Dani Dennis-Sutton didn't approach the afternoon like it was a cupcake game.
The defensive end had two forced fumbles that ended up with the ball in the Nittany Lions' hands. The first halted the Wolf Pack's rolling offense on the first drive of the game. After A.J. Harris recovered it, the Penn State offense took the field and went down all the way to the end zone for the first score of the afternoon. The second was recovered by Zakee Wheatley in the third quarter and led to another Nittany Lion one-yard rushing touchdown by Nicholas Singleton.
Head coach James Franklin mentioned in the postgame press conference that this marks the first game where a Penn State player recorded two forced fumbles since Micah Parsons.
Dennis-Sutton also had five total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one pass break-up, and one quarterback hurry. Needless to say, he was all over the Nevada offense and shook up quarterback Preston "Chubba" Purdy each time he stepped onto the field until Franklin sidelined his starters in the fourth quarter.
"He's extremely strong, he's quicker and faster than people realize, he's a well-rounded defensive end," Franklin said in the postgame press conference. ". . . There's some guys across the country that are great pass rushers, there's some guys that are good against the run. He can do both. He's a unique guy, he's going to have a big time year."
PFF names Dani Dennis-Sutton to National Team of the Week at edge and names him run defender of the week
While Pro Football Focus wasn't impressed by the Penn State offense enough to honor any player on its National Team of the Week or Big Ten Team of the Week, Dennis-Sutton's performance could not be ignored.
PFF named the defensive end the run defender of the week, which earned him a spot on both the national and Big Ten teams of the week. Mitch Kaiser wrote of the edge rusher:
"With Abdul Carter now in the NFL, [Dennis-Sutton] has stepped into the spotlight — and while he’s expected to be Penn State’s dominant pass rusher, it was his run defense that stole the show in Week 1. Dennis-Sutton earned an elite 97.3 run-defense grade, anchoring a Nittany Lions unit that looks like one of the best in the country.
On just 14 run-defense snaps, he tallied two tackles, both of which resulted in a loss of yardage for the offense. He didn’t receive a single negative grade in the run game, and his average depth of tackle was an impressive 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage."
On top of Dennis-Sutton, Amare Campbell and Zane Durant had big moments in the game. Durant tallied an interception on the Wolf Pack's second offensive drive. Campbell led the defense with six total tackles, including three solo.