The Florida defense gave up plenty of yards on Saturday to Ole Miss, in a 51-35 victory, which raised some alarms among the Gators faithful. But coach Dan Mullen had an explanation.

While Florida had 642 total yards, the Rebels also had a big game, with 613 yards themselves.

“We got to get a lot better at that to be honest with you,” Mullen said in the post-game press conference. “I think when you haven’t tackled, we’ve tackled twice since the Orange Bowl. Normally you get a lot of spring ball, you’re getting physicality, you’re getting tackling. We only did two in our scrimmages and they were spread out over this long period of time.”

There were some defensive players out that Mullen said he hopes come back soon. But otherwise, it was the lack of physical practices, and the inability to hit a QB in practice on a scramble, that surfaced as issues on Saturday. Mullen also added that coach Lane Kiffin and his staff do a good job of getting the ball to their playmakers, much like Florida does.

“You give them credit as well, and we’ve just got to get cleaner and better for next week,” Mullen said.

Florida gets back to action this week against South Carolina.