Run defense remains porous and what else Florida football learned from loss at No. 7 Ole Miss

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OXFORD, Miss. − Florida football interim coach Billy Gonzales couldn't fault the effort, even if the Florida Gators stumbled to their third straight loss, falling 34-24 at No. 7 Ole Miss before 68,138 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

"They battled on the football field," Florida interim coach Billy Gonzales said. "They've defined who they are all year long. They did it all week long, they're gonna continue to do it for the next couple games, they're gonna continue to battle. I told you guys before, there is no quit in this team. That's not in their DNA. They've done a fantastic job from that standpoint. They're competitors."

The Florida Gators (3-7, 2-5 SEC) dropped their third straight and are now 0-3 under Gonzales, who replaced Billy Napier after Napier was fired on Oct. 19. Two of the three losses came in tight game against Top 10 ranked teams, as UF fell 24-20 to No. 5 Georgia on Nov. 1.

The Gators will close out the season with back-to-back games at The Swamp against rivals Tennessee and Florida State.

"I'm at a loss for words because I care about these young men," Gonzales said. "I really care about these young men. We've just got to try to put it together and finish the way we need to these last two weeks."

Here's what UF learned from its loss to the Rebels:

Florida football still struggling to stop the run

After giving up 233 yards on 5.3 yards per carry against Kentucky, Florida was just as bad against the run against Ole Miss, allowing 237 yards on 4.9 yards per carry.

Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy gashed the Gators for 224 yards rushing on 7.2 yards per carry and 3 TDs, which included a 59-yard run that set up Ole Miss's go-ahead TD on the first play of the fourth quarter. Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss was held to 10 yards rushing but had a big conversion on 4th-and-7 run in the third quarter by faking out Florida linebacker Myles Graham.

“It definitely wasn’t good enough man," Graham said. "Just missed tackles, missed assignments, bad eye discipline, things like that led to a lot of rushing. We really just beat ourselves on that. We shot ourselves in the foot."

Second half struggles continue for Florida football offense

Florida was held scoreless in the second half for the second straight game and has been outscored 28-0 in the second half in its last two games against Ole Miss.

The Gators simply haven't been built to last this season. UF's last points in the second half in a game came on a 54-yard field goal by Trey Smack early in the fourth quarter against Georgia on Nov. 1.

A fourth quarter interception by Florida quarterback DJ Lagway against Ole Miss proved costly as well as UF, down 27-24, was at the Ole Miss 30-yard line and was in position for a game-tying field goal by Smack before the pick.

"We moved the ball," Gonzales said. "I mean, we had a 10-play drive in the fourth quarter, so we were moving the ball. We were in field goal position, so as far as moving it, yeah, I thought we did a decent job in that drive right there."

Opposing defenses keying on Florida football RB Jadan Baugh

With Lagway struggling this season, it's clear that opposing defenses are loading extra players in the box to stop starting running back Jadan Baugh. The 6-foot-1, 231-pound Baugh was held under 100 yards for a third straight game as Ole Miss held him to 61 yards on 15 carries with 1 TD.

Baugh has posted three 100-yard rushing games this season and at 808 yards on the season needs to average 96.0 yards over his final two games to become UF's first 1,000-yard rusher since Kelvin Taylor in 2015.

Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Three things Florida football learned from loss to Ole Miss

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