Judging by Kirby Smart's preferred metric, Georgia's passing defense has taken a dip in 2024.

The Bulldogs are allowing 7.12 passing yards per attempt in 2024. That mark has been 5.8 yards (2023), 6.5 yards (2022), and 5.6 yards (2021) in recent years.

The 7.12 yards allowed per attempt this year would be the highest mark for Georgia in the Smart era. Smart's first year in 2016 is the only other time the Bulldogs have allowed seven yards per attempt, hitting that milestone right on the number.

"For us, the metric is like you have three or four incompletions and you give up a 10-yarder, well you're okay there because you've got 10 divided by four or whatever," Smart said. "But when you give up a 75-yarder and a 77-yarder, that's not good. That's not who we were historically around here. We haven't given up massive explosives.”

Smart is alluding to last week's contest against Mississippi State, where the Bulldogs from Starkville found some openings through the air.

Mississippi State generated four passing plays greater than 20 yards. That included a 72-yard pass and two other passes that went for touchdowns, one 24 yards and the other 35 yards.

Georgia's relative lack of success in defending "50-50 balls" is just one of the issues.

"When you watch the tape, when we played correctly and use the right technique we played well," Smart said. "We did not win every ball. Joenel Aguero is a great example. He covered the guy exactly like he was supposed to and the guy made a great throw and a great catch. We're going to take that. We're going to say, you know what, we're not going to win every battle. We're not going to win every 50-50 ball, but we're going to try to win more than we lose."

But other troubles have Smart's attention as well.

"When you don't cover someone period, as a coach you're going what is wrong here?" Smart said. "Like we didn't cover the guy, we had bad eyes, we looked in the backfield, things that you harp on every day. They happen. That's what offenses do, they try to give you eye candy and try to get you looking at the wrong thing. We have to remove those."

What is the key to fixing the secondary problems?

Senior safety Dan Jackson gave a couple of suggestions. For starters, there's playing with good technique. Jackson also said that the Bulldogs stress that playing with good effort is the key to limiting explosive plays.

"I think a little bit of both," Jackson said. "I think we have lacked in effort at some times. But I think just going back and just tell them, just be able to look yourself in the mirror personally and see what you did wrong. And then it just goes back to playing as a unit, knowing where your help is. And especially as a back end, just being able to over communicate. I think that's what's most important going forward."

As much as it might be needed, the Bulldogs don't have a bye week or a cupcake opponent to sort out its secondary troubles.

Instead, Georgia hits the road to face No. 1 Texas. The Longhorns have a very explosive passing offense led by star quarterback Quinn Ewers.

Smart knows his secondary will need to play its best this Saturday night in Austin.

"Texas presents a completely different (challenge) because they'll have you sitting at the line of scrimmage because you think it's a run and they ran right by you," Smart said. "They'll have you looking at a motion and you don't see the guy running down the field past you. They’ve got great speed on the perimeter and great size. So they present maybe a different challenge than Mississippi State, but a challenge.”