Looking at the stat sheets between Florida and Alabama, one would assume the Crimson Tide wiped the floor with the Gators.

Alabama outgained Florida 645-200 on offense and threw for 449 passing yards. They converted 12-of-16 third downs. Florida finished just 2-of-9. Alabama controlled the time of possession, dominating with nearly 40 minutes compared to Florida’s roughly 21 minutes of possession.

So what opportunities is Muschamp referring to if the stats were so one-sided? Two big breakdowns defensively significantly contributed to the Gators’ 42-21 loss.

The first breakdown came in the first half when Alabama’s star receiver somehow found himself on an island with no Florida defender seemingly within 10 yards of him. Cooper responded accordingly, taking a deep ball by Blake Sims for 79 yards to tie the game at 14 points apiece.

Safety Keanu Neal explained it was simply a breakdown in communication between he and another player.

“Well, I was supposed to shoot the receiver and he was supposed to shoot over,” Neal said after the game. “He thought it was a different coverage because of the motion and he stayed over and Cooper was free.”

Perhaps the key play in the entire game came later into the second half when the Crimson Tide were forced into borderline field goal position, due to an offensive pass interference call. On 3rd and 23, Alabama executed a slip screen to running back Derrick Henry that exploded for 29 yards and it seemed the Florida defense was poorly prepared for the play.

Muschamp added after the game that the play call was sound, but it just came down to a lack of execution and he pointed the finger at himself for the breakdown.

“We had two guys on [Henry] and we didn’t execute,” Muschamp said to media during his post-game press conference. “A lack of execution comes back on me. The flare screen hurt us. They pinned the backer and that hurt us.”

“We had opportunities. We had a third and forever in the screen and we felt like we had the right call. In the right situation, we’d call it again. We just had to execute. Regardless of what the stats were in the game, we had our opportunities,” Muschamp added.

Unfortunately for the Gators, it’s the second straight week where communication breakdowns defensively and a lack of execution have cost Florida. Against Kentucky, it led to two big passing touchdowns for Patrick Towles and Garrett Johnson, but the Gators were able to overcome the mistakes against a less-talented Wildcats squad.

Muschamp said earlier in the week those communication breakdowns were “easily correctable.” However, when Florida plays teams like Alabama and other top SEC schools, it cannot afford to keep shooting itself in the foot defensively. The results won’t be to Muschamp’s liking and frankly it’s just unacceptable.