It only takes a few hours for a plate of armor to become an Achilles' heel.
What made No. 4 UF successful in its first three games - zero turnovers - doomed it in Saturday's 31-30 loss to Mississippi, as three fumbles, two just after halftime, let the Rebels erase a 10-point deficit and take control of the game.
The Gators piled up 443 yards - their most of the season - and seemed in command with a 17-7 lead at halftime until they fumbled twice in their first three plays of the second half.
Those turnovers led to quick scores by the Rebels to tie the game, and Florida went 0 for 5 on third downs from that point on, violating two major tenets of coach Urban Meyer's "Plan to Win."
"Statistically you go back and look at it - we had a big offensive game," offensive coordinator Dan Mullen said. "We had more yards, but we came out on the wrong end because we turned it over and they didn't. They kind of followed, it looked like, our plan to win, but we didn't."
After an 8-yard run to open the third quarter, UF receiver Percy Harvin fumbled on his next carry, giving Ole Miss the ball at UF's 34-yard line. Following a UM field goal, quarterback Tim Tebow dropped the ball during a handoff and the Rebels took over at the 18.
That led to a three-play UM touchdown drive to tie the score, breathing life into an offense that managed less than half of Florida's production in the first half.
"What we've been preaching all year is take care of the ball, score when we can score and play great defense," Mullen said. "Our defense did a great job today, but we put them in terrible situations."
The Gators fumbled three other times and lost one, when tight end Aaron Hernandez coughed it up at the UM 35. It was a very uncharacteristic day for Florida (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference), which entered the game tied for second in the nation in turnover margin.
The defense did tally an interception when safety Major Wright picked off a wobbly pass from Jevan Snead in the second quarter, but it was too bogged down to accomplish much in the second half, as the Rebels (3-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) started their third-quarter drives with an average field position of the UF 42-yard line.
"The field was so short, there wasn't too much that we could do to stop them," cornerback Joe Haden said. "We went as hard as we could - the defense definitely went as hard as it could - but sometimes with a short field like that we don't really have a chance to do much."
