A once-dominant Texas defense has not looked like such in a while, and a lot of that has to do with its struggles in the secondary.

In each of their last three games, the Longhorns have failed to keep opposing quarterbacks under 300 yards passing. In two of those contests, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, Texas was without star safety Michael Taaffe. But against Georgia, the defense was completely healthy. 

The Longhorns did lose key players, such as safety Andrew Mukuba and corner Jahdae Barron, to the draft in the offseason, but this doesn't excuse the issues the unit is facing.

The Texas run defense has remained stout all season, but the secondary's inability to prevent big plays through the air has negated a lot of the defensive line's strong work.

Against Georgia, the Longhorns gave up four explosive pass plays (plays that gain 20+ yards).

"We have been historically so good at not giving up the explosive plays," Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. "We have got to get that number back down."

And Sarkisian noted that not all of the explosive plays come from passes down the field. On Saturday, Bulldogs electric wideout Zachariah Branch caught a short pass from quarterback Gunnar Stockton in the first quarter. However, through poor positioning and angles from the Longhorns' backend, Branch turned a short pitch and catch into a 30-yard gain.

In a similar situation, a few weeks back, Mississippi State running back Davon Booth received a desperate shovel pass from QB Blake Shapen, and Booth was able to glide past Texas defenders for a 62-yard touchdown.

SEC Network (@SECNetwork) on X DAVON BOOTH THROUGH THE TEXAS DEFENSE 😤🔥

"Some of the flat routes, some of the crossing routes, when they were completed, turned into explosives," Sarkisian said. "That's where we've got to populate the ball better. We've got to leverage the ball better."

But the truth is, the Longhorns are struggling with frequent breakdowns in the secondary. Georgia's third touchdown of the game, a 30-yard touchdown catch by wideout London Humphreys, was a turning point in the contest. And it came via miscommunication in the backend.

It's one thing for a team to play solid coverage and get beaten by great QB and receiver play, but it's another thing when you're gifting yards to your opponents. Unfortunately for Texas, that's exactly what it's doing.

"There was a lack of communication being reciprocated to where one person is communicating and the other one is playing the call as it's being called," Sarkisian said. 

Sarkisian is confident that they can improve in this aspect.

"We're not sitting downstairs like we have no answers, but we need to play it better for sure," Sarkisian said.

That they do, because the next two weeks, high-powered offenses in Arkansas and Texas A&M will be looking to deal some serious damage when they come to Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.