OXFORD — It gets lost sometimes in all of the social media.

Yes, Lane Kiffin is a marketing genius. The “Transfer to the Sip” stuff has absolutely been impactful branding, the type of public relations messaging that has helped Kiffin transform Ole Miss’ roster in a short period of time.

He’s turned his Labrador retriever puppy, Juice, into a local and regional superstar. As of Saturday morning, “the only child of Lane Kiffin’s who can be trusted with a credit card” has almost 30,000 followers on Twitter.

However, what makes Kiffin an elite coach isn’t the marketing or the ability to turn a yellow Lab into a media darling. What makes Kiffin worth every penny Ole Miss is paying him — and likely every additional penny that’s coming his way soon — is his ability to design an offense and scheme plays.

No. 9 Ole Miss used an explosive running game against Auburn Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, 48-34, and the Rebels’ offensive attack had Kiffin’s fingerprints all over it.

Kiffin can scheme opposing defense silly. On Saturday, repeatedly, he set plays up series before he used them. He froze Auburn’s linebackers in impossible matchup, making them choose between the quarterback or the running back, knowing there was no right choice. In the first quarter, one of those such plays resulted in a 23-yard touchdown pass from Jaxson Dart to Zach Evans, extending the Rebels’ lead to 14-0.

With tight end Michael Trigg out — likely for a few weeks, presumably due to a fractured clavicle — Ole Miss adjusted its offense. The Rebels used a four-wide receiver lineup, employing much more of Western Kentucky transfer Dayton Wade than they had in previous games. It used veteran tight end Casey Kelly as a blocker but slipped him into pass routes just enough to keep defenses honest.

In the end, it was Kiffin’s calling card — an effective running game — that was the difference. Ole Miss rushed for 448 yards, the fifth most all-time in school history and the most for an Ole Miss team since 1962. It was the second-most yards on the ground for an Ole Miss team against an SEC opponent, the most since rushing for 519 yards against Auburn in 1951.

It was the first time since at least 1976 Ole Miss had three 100-yard rushers and the first time since 2000 Ole Miss had two running backs have receiving touchdowns in the same game. Deuce McAllister and Toward Sanford accomplished the feat against Tulane that season.

"We have to do whatever it takes to get to 1-0 and that was running the ball today," Kiffin said.

Kiffin's name is always attached, for some reason, to a wide-open passing attack. Maybe it's the call sheet flying into the air when a receiver runs free. Maybe it's the tempo or Kiffin's success with quarterbacks. Whatever.

It's known in circles close to Kiffin that he's most excited when his teams run the ball well, and it happens often.

"I just like it better as a feeling," Kiffin said. "We've had this conversation often and I don't know why it's that way that we're associated with throwing the ball, but that was awesome to see today. The other way is fun but this is more demoralizing to a team when you can run the ball like that.

"I saw a lot of guys go down for them and we were able to wear them down. Before the lightning delay, Q's (Judkins) run finally broke. It was good."