Secondary
Nathanael: A
Tennessee’s secondary wasn’t tasked with doing a lot in terms of defending the pass on Saturday. Kentucky only threw the ball seven times, and most of the throws were shorter ones. But when they were tested, they came up strong. Nigel Warrior intercepted yet another pass, and even though it was a really bad throw by Bowden, Warrior still deserves the credit. He also had another great return on that INT, and he was very effective in helping contain UK’s runners, totaling eight tackles along with his pick. Shawn Shamburger was, again, effective as a blitzer and got half a tackle for loss as well as four total stops.
Ben: A
It’s hard to assess how well Tennessee’s secondary played because Kentucky threw seven passes all night. Bowden completed four of those passes, and he threw an interception which was picked off by Nigel Warrior. The senior safety also had eight tackles and was huge in the run game. Warrior is playing tremendous football.
