GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- How often have you heard a college football coach say he screwed something up after a win over a Top 5 team?

Shoot, it's hard enough to get them to admit fault in embarrassing losses against lesser teams. But fresh off a huge win over No. 5 LSU on Saturday, coach Dan Mullen, relatively unprompted, admitted he hurt the offense when it stalled in the second half.

"I think it's a fault of several things," Mullen said. "I think we on the opening drive (of the second half) last week we go down, we hit an explosive play, we throw an interception on Play 2. I got conservative."

With a 14-10 lead out of the locker room to start the second half, Florida came out gunning. Quarterback Feleipe Franks immediately connected with receiver Joshua Hammond on a 49-yard bomb and a pair of LSU penalties moved the ball down to the 13-yard line.

Mullen dialed in a play for a shot to the end zone right away. Franks had a double route combo to the end zone, and tight end Moral Stephens was breaking open on a post route over the middle.

But right guard Fredrick Johnson missed a block in pass protection and Franks saw the rush was coming quickly. He tried to throw the ball out of the back of the end zone, but he was hit as he threw and the ball didn't get there, instead going straight to LSU safety Grant Delpit for an interception.

That's when Mullen said he did a poor job as a play-caller.

"The next three possessions we seemed to be back to the wall and I got conservative, and that's a real bad combination for the offense," Mullen said. "For the offense, you’re already backed way up near your own goal line and now I got conservative with my play-calling. We go three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out and now you sit there and yell, ‘Boy, that’s terrible.’"

The offense stalling allowed LSU to cut the lead to 14-13. Just as the Florida offense started to come out of its funk, the defense seemed to wear down briefly and the Tigers pounded the rock on a go-ahead scoring drive.

That might not have happened had Mullen stuck with his normal gameplan.

"It’s a lack of consistency on my part as much as our execution of the guys on the field," Mullen said.

What a refreshing and unusual bit of self-reflection.

Mullen was praised roundly for his play-calling genius following the game. Hindsight for him, though, is 20-20. There's always something you can improve on.

No wonder Florida keeps improving from week to week. Even after a big win, the accountability is coming from the head football coach himself.