Kirby Smart reacts to Georgia's blocked field goal vs. Auburn

Kirby Smart asked his team for a fast start but headed into the locker room with just 14 points on the board. Thankfully, Auburn has not been able to find much on the offensive end themselves as a field goal is their lone score. Another three points could have been added but Georgia blocked it, sending the first half clock to zeros.

Not usually something head coaches are frustrated by failing to execute, Smart was relived with the blocked field goal. He says Georgia works on getting hands on kicks and has not gotten one in quite some time. Seeing this one blocked on Saturday was a sigh of relief for him.

“Well, it’s about time,” Smart said during an in-game interview with ESPN’s Molly McGrath. “We’ve 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 that we put into that to get that.”

Had Auburn converted the kick, just a one-possession game would have been waiting on the other side. Instead, Georgia maintains their 11-point lead and will get the ball to start the second half. A nice win for the Bulldogs.

Getting back to the fast start Smart wanted from his offense, he assessed their performance as well. More is wanted out of the run game from him, bringing some more consistency.

“Good and bad, hot and cold,” Smart said. “I feel like we can run the ball better than we are. We’ve had two runs that almost broke out, should be explosives. Both teams are reeling a little bit.”

Trevor Etienne is Georgia’s leading rusher at the break, going for 54 yards and scoring a touchdown on just nine carries. As Smart mentioned, a couple of his runs have been near home runs, getting tackled at what seemed to be the last moment. He hopes a couple long ones can break out in the second half.