Four times.

That’s how often the word “unacceptable” was used by Florida cornerback Kaiir Elam this week to describe the defense’s performance against Ole Miss.

“We won the game, but defensively it felt like a loss to us,” Elam said. “I’m not going to make any excuses. We didn’t play up to par. That’s not the Gator standard.”

The Gators finished No. 9 nationally in total defense last year, but opened the 2020 season with their worst showing under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. First-year coach Lane Kiffin and his Rebels racked up 613 yards of total offense, the most UF has allowed since it last faced him as Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2014 (672 yards).

“We made too many mistakes and we didn’t play to our standard. Right, wrong, for whatever reasons, it doesn’t matter. You are who you are,” Grantham said. “You have them in 3rd-and-19, you should win that one. And really at the end of the day, we didn’t finish plays — whether it was an individual play or a series. Let’s get off the field and give the offense the ball back.”

Ole Miss converted nine of 14 third-down attempts, and quarterback Matt Corral moved the chains with several scrambles. The former Gators commit torched the secondary with 395 passing yards and three touchdowns, which was tough for Elam to re-watch Sunday.

“Looking back on the film, I’m not going to lie; I was kind of pissed off,” Elam said. “As a whole, I think we gave up too many rushing yards, and that comes from missing tackles as well and just not running to the ball.

“For us to go as far as we can, that wasn’t acceptable. I think that should get cleaned up by Saturday, but it definitely starts in practice. So I’m going to be on everybody, and I’ll have guys on me as well to bring it.”

Fellow cornerback Marco Wilson spoke to the entire defense at practice on Monday and Tuesday, according to linebacker Ventrell Miller. He said UF coach Dan Mullen also addressed the unit Sunday about its game one performance, which has made for a spirited week of practice.

“Everybody is talking, communicating way more and louder than how we were,” Miller said. “When people run to the ball, missed tackles don’t really show up like that. So everybody ran to the ball more and pursued. That’s some of the things that we changed this week."

Elam added, “It’s very intense. We’re coming with a swagger about ourselves and a different type of mindset than the first game. We didn’t play well, so it’s like a big old weight on our shoulder right now. We’re looking to have a very, very, very better showing.”

Florida’s weakness against Ole Miss was allowing Corral to throw in the post, according to Elam, and he said the secondary has to “keep the ball out of there.” Both he and Grantham dismissed the truncated offseason as an explanation for poor tackling.

“We just didn’t play well enough, whether it was a fundamental error, whether it was a lack of execution, whether it was leverage on the ball, just finishing. I mean, we just didn’t do it. It is what it is,” Grantham said. “The biggest thing to me is how do we respond and get better. I don’t think you can ever use anything as an excuse. You gotta find ways to get the job done and that’s what we’re gonna do.

“I think the best way to educate guys is you show them the standard. If you watch, there were plays that were the standard. The problem was that there weren’t enough of them for us to have the kind of performance we want to have. We just gotta get better, and that’s been the focus this week. I think you’ve always gotta own it. You’ve gotta understand where you are to get where you want to go.”