ATHENS — Kirby Smart seemed mostly pleased with his Georgia football team at halftime, but the Bulldogs head coach was yearning for more success on the ground.

Georgia took a 14-3 lead into intermission against rival Auburn in this hard-hitting affair at Sanford Stadium on Saturday.

The Bulldogs grabbed a 7-0 lead when Trevor Etienne burst in from 2 yards out on Georgia’s opening possession, capping an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was aided by an Auburn substitution penalty.

Etienne leads all rushers with 54 yards on nine carries, including a 23-yard sprint that set up Georgia’s second touchdown of the game.

“Good and bad hot and cold, I feel like I could run better than we are,” Smart said, assessing Georgia’s offense during his halftime interview with ABC.

“We had two runs that could have broke out that should explosives — it’s hot and both teams are reeling a little bit.”

The Bulldogs second TD drive began at the Auburn 49 with 1:02 left in the half after a Brett Thorson punt was downed at the Tigers’ 3 and the defense forced a three-and-out.

Carson Beck, 14-of-16 passing for 124 yards, hit Dominic Lovett with an 11-yard touchdown pass to cap a 5-play, 49-yard drive that featured Etienne’s explosive run to the 17.

Auburn’s only points came on its second possession, the Tigers answering UGA’s opening TD with a 27-yard field goal on its ensuing drive.

Auburn threatened to add more points at the end of the half, but Towns McGough’s 54-yard field goal was blocked by Dan Jackson.

“Well, it’s about time,” Smart said. “We had gone an entire year without blocking a field goal, and we take a lot of pride in that, so I’m really happy for the work we put into that to get that.”

Georgia is out-gaining Auburn 193 yards to 147 yards and has 11 first downs to the Tigers 7.