Following the first weekend of Big Ten football, the conference handed out the first of its weekly awards for the regular season to honor the top performers from Week 1. One could make the case that Penn State’s Dani Dennis-Sutton was overlooked this week.
Dennnis-Sutton was a monster on the edge in Penn State’s season-opening win against Nevada, and he forced two fumbles that led to scores by the Penn State offense. He was simply unstoppable. Despite his dominant showing against the Wolf Pack, Dennis-Sutton could not even earn a share of the Big Ten’s defensive player of the week award in Week 1.
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That honor went solely to Wisconsin safety Preston Zachman, a Pennsylvania native. Zachman had two interceptions and a couple of solo tackles in Wisconsin’s 17-0 victory over Miami Ohio. Zachman absolutely had a significant hand in Wisconsin’s victroy in Week 1, and the timliness of his interceptions were a factor in the outcome.
But it is worth remembering how Dennis-Sutton set the tone for Penn State in Week 1 against Nevada as well. Dennis-Sutton forced a fumble on Nevada’s opening drive of the game when the Wolf Pack appeared to have something working. That led to a Penn State touchdown on the first offensive series by the Nittany Lions in 2025. Dennis-Sutton forced another fumble later in the game to set up another Penn State score.
Big Ten Players of the Week – Week 1
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Co-Offense – QB Jayden Maiava, USC; RB Jonah Coleman, Washington
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Defense – S Preston Zachman, Wisconsin
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Special Teams – WR Hank Beatty, Illinois
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Freshman – QB Malik Washington, Maryland
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Dani Dennis-Sutton snubbed by Big Ten Week 1 player of the week awards
