ATHENS, Ga. — Week 3 should have been a warning sign for the Missouri Tigers.

Missouri was matched up against the Troy Trojans at Faurot Field, a game the Tigers were heavy favorites in. Yet, entering the fourth quarter, the Tigers were up by just a touchdown and ultimately defeated Troy by a slim margin of 27-17.

They had given up 230 yards to Goose Crowder. His season high. Crowder is not an exceptional quarterback by any means, he's a serviceable mid-major quarterback. But, against a ranked SEC team, he threw a 76-yard pass in which the receiver blew past the Tigers' man-to-man coverage and he launched a 55-yard pass due to weak coverage.

The secondary's reaction time lacked, they looked slow on one-and-ones and misread receivers in zone coverage. Eight weeks later, Missouri is making the same mistakes.

After continued struggles against strong quarterbacks and passing-dominant teams all season, the secondary's flaws reached its peak Saturday. The majority of scores came from the Bulldogs' rushing attack, who added five touchdowns, but it was the explosive passing plays from Gunner Stockton that gave Georgia those opportunities.

Missouri gave up a season-high seven passes over 20 yards Saturday, displaying the Tigers' lack of coverage on deep passes.

"They got us a couple of times on one-on-ones. I thought that was a great back shoulder catch on Sione and obviously they got the sail route," coach Eli Drinkwitz said after the game. "They got us on the third down across the middle. They got us on a little tight end wheel. They did a great job of scheming us up."

Stockton ended 18-for-24 with 252 yards and one passing touchdown. His yards against Missouri marked his second highest of the year, which is a typical trend for Missouri.

Against Arch Manning, Missouri gave up 297 yards, Manning's second highest total of the season. And Kamario Taylor's 360 yards against the Tigers marked his season high. Deep balls tarnished the Tigers' secondary in those contests as Texas compiled five catches of at least 22 yards and Mississippi State converted two passes over 40 yards.

Against Georgia, the Bulldogs added 286 passing yards after backup Ryan Puglisi added two passes for 34 yards, which included a 29-yard bomb. Much like in weeks past, Missouri was slow in man-to-man coverage and consistently made the wrong reads, leading to an abundance of Georgia passing yards.

"Obviously, giving up 286 yards passing was never going to be a recipe for success," Drinkwitz said postgame.

Missouri ranks 14th in the SEC with 239.8 passing yards allowed per game and 17 passing touchdowns allowed. A large portion of that comes from explosives, as the Tigers allow an SEC-13th 11.81 yards per catch.

In the Tigers' Week 3 game against Troy, the stats were eerily similar. Missouri allowed 12.77 yards per pass, 230 yards and two passing touchdowns. Back then, Drinkwitz and others said the team would work on it, but some problems are simply irreversible.