Why Penn State football's Dani Dennis-Sutton played in Pinstripe Bowl
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NEW YORK CITY — Penn State football leader Dani Dennis-Sutton guaranteed his coach and teammates a month ago that he’d play in Saturday’s Pinstripe Bowl against Clemson.
No matter that the Nittany Lions would be missing more than 30 players in a low-level postseason game in frozen Yankee Stadium.
Or that most every experienced starter would decide to skip the game in order to begin preparations for the NFL or to enter the NCAA transfer portal.
Not only would Dennis-Sutton play here, he would end up leading the 22-10 victory over the Tigers with four tackles, two sacks and constant quarterback pressure all afternoon.
He had made a promise to interim head coach Terry Smith:
“He said, ‘Coach, I’m going to play in this game and I’m going to be the MVP,'” Smith said in the postgame interview room.
Smith then looked to his left, to Dennis-Sutton and game MVP Trebor Pena, who made five catches for 100 yards and the game-winning touchdown.
“I know Trebor got the MVP, but Dani is my MVP because this guy didn’t have to play today,” Smith said. “Guys of his caliber and magnitude, a lot of them just walk away and chase the next journey, and that’s OK. There’s nothing negative in that statement. But he chose to come back, and what an outstanding performance.”
With his two sacks, Dennis-Sutton passed Penn State legends Matt Millen and Abdul Carter on the career sack list, moving into sixth place with 23.5.
Dennis-Sutton said he never wavered on playing in the game in which the Lions were missing 11 starters.
One of those sacks came on the Tigers’ final drive of the game while they desperately tried to rally. The victory gave the Lions (7-6) a winning season and ended their disappointing 2025 with feel-good positivity
“We get into a bowl game, I’m playing. I made a dedication to this program, Coach T, Coach (James) Franklin, all these guys, that I’m going to play through this whole season,” he said.
“This program gave me a million opportunities, so playing in this game, this is nothing, man. I love football, I love this program, so it was sort of a no-brainer for me. I don’t really comprehend not playing in the game. It’s an opportunity for me to go out there for my boys one last time.
“And it was perfect.”
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State football’s Dani Dennis-Sutton vs Clemson in Pinstripe Bowl
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