‘Got work to do’: The Ole Miss defense wasn’t itself against Tulsa. Now comes Top 10 Kentucky.

There was a brief time on Saturday when the Ole Miss defense was tied for the national lead in fewest points allowed (13) in college football.

Then Tulsa showed up. 

The game couldn’t have started much better from an offensive standpoint, with newly-minted starting quarterback Jaxson Dart leading the Rebels on a six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in 99 seconds.

Dart, making his sixth combined career start between USC and Ole Miss, had the Rebels averaging 12.5 yards per play and 19.9 seconds between plays without clock stoppages.

Basically, the opening drive played out exactly as scripted and couldn’t have gone any better.

But Tulsa responded, in a recurring theme on the afternoon.

“Didn’t play well at all defensively,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said. “That’s not a good thing.”

The Golden Hurricane opened with a 12-play, 87-yard touchdown march of its own.

Sixty-five of those yards came through the air, including a 37-yard completion from tenured Tulsa quarterback Davis Brin to star wide receiver Keylon Stokes, another senior.

Brin found the end zone on a one-yard rushing plunge a play later.

“Basically what was said (in the postgame locker room) was just coming back in and working,” safety Ladarius Tennison said.

Tennison, a transfer from Auburn, was the team leader in tackles with a career-high 12. Ole Miss, which entered play ranked No. 16 in the country, improved to 4-0 with a 35-27 win. 

Tennison added, “Just being prepared to know what we’ve got to work on.”

RELATED: Lane Kiffin and select Ole Miss players break down 35-27 win over Tulsa

Brin was a problem before he was lost for the final two quarters with an ankle injury. 

He helped Tulsa to two touchdowns in his three drives, highlighted by a perfectly-placed 20-yard dime to Isaiah Epps over Ole Miss veteran corner Miles Battle in man-to-man coverage. Epps scored twice in all, and Ole Miss faced its first deficit of the season at 14-7.

But Ole Miss seemingly course-corrected in outscoring Tulsa 28-3 for a 35-17 halftime advantage. The Golden Hurricane was also forced to turn to redshirt freshman quarterback Braylon Braxton after losing Brin.

Thing is, Braxton gave Ole Miss fits, too, specifically with his big-play ability as a runner. Even worse, Ole Miss failed to score a single second-half point. Braxton was 9 for 22 for 83 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

He carried four times for an additional 39 yards.

“Really feel like we kept beating ourselves,” said Ole Miss wide receiver Jonathan Mingo, who had three catches for 54 yards and an AJ-Brown-like 31-yard touchdown.

“Dumb penalties, turnovers and stuff like that. Not playing our style of football. We should have played way better in the second half and the game shouldn’t have been that close. Kiffin always preaches we have a 24-hour rule, so watch film, correct the bad and get on to Kentucky and try to improve each week.”

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In the end, Ole Miss gave up at least 21 points for the first time since Auburn last season, snapping a streak of eight games.

The Rebels didn’t record a sack for the first time this season. However, notably, they were without starting nose guard JJ Pegues and arguably their best pass-rusher in Khari Coleman.

Both didn’t play because of injuries.

Saturday was also just the second time in three seasons under Kiffin Ole Miss hasn’t recorded a sack.

“Great team coming in here,” next week in Kentucky, Kiffin said. Ole Miss is perfect through four games for the first time since 2015. The Rebels haves won 12 straight home games, the longest such streak since the 60s.

Kickoff against the Wildcats is set for Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. 

“Unfortunately, that happened,” Kiffin continued. “Good thing is, you take parts where you say, ‘Well, we’re really good on offense, we’re really good on defense. We just weren’t consistent at it.’

“So, that’s better than when we’ve all been around teams where you don’t feel good about a side or both sides at all.”

RELATED: ‘Got to figure out something better’: Lane Kiffin expects more from Ole Miss than what he got against Tulsa

There were a handful of positives. 

AJ Finley, the veteran Ole Miss starting safety, picked up his first interception of the season and the seventh of his career. Linebacker Austin Keys had a career-best seven tackles. Safety Trey Washington registered a career-high three pass break-ups.

But Ole Miss, which entered the day in the Top 25 in the FBS in 10 different categories, is suddenly facing some uncertainty with the first of an eight-game SEC sprint to the finish on deck.

“We’ve just got to put it together, which we did a week ago (in a 42-0 blowout at Georgia Tech),” Kiffin said. “Every game’s independent of the other. Every week is brand new. 

“Got work to do and get some guys that got healthy that missed today.”