Like any good coach, Lane Kiffin entered the high-stakes game with a clear, succinct strategy. Attack the quarterback. Don’t relent. Keep hitting the fluorescent yellow ball at Jaxson Dart's feet.

Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels are swept up in the pickleball craze. That’s resulted in several offseason battles in a sport that’s basically mini-tennis. They play matches during lunchtime, and the Rebels organized a tournament that included staffers from throughout the football building.

“Equipment (staff), weight room, academics, everybody was in it, and you had partners, so we kind of got to know everybody outside the office,” Kiffin said. “Then, it kind of took off.”

Ole Miss’ pickleball mania reached a crescendo one night last week in Oxford when Kiffin participated in a doubles match that he dubbed “the biggest one we’ve ever had.”

“People showed up for it. Lights were on, center court, the whole thing,” Kiffin, the Rebels’ fifth-year football coach, told me while he recalled the match in detail.

On one side of the net were Kiffin and graduate assistant Sawyer Jordan. Opposite them were Dart, Ole Miss’ veteran quarterback, and tight end Caden Prieskorn.

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For days, Kiffin said, he and Jordan tried to challenge Dart and Prieskorn. The players ducked them. Once the match finally got scheduled, the players aimed to get inside their coaches’ heads by carrying out a heist.

“They took Sawyer’s laptop 30 minutes before the match,” Kiffin said. “He was worried it was stolen. They tried everything.”

This wasn’t tomfoolery. Mind games, this was, meant to rattle Kiffin and Jordan.

Kiffin and Jordan had a strategy of their own.

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They respected the problems the 6-foot-5 Prieskorn might pose with his length.

"(Prieskorn) was obsessed that they were going to win,” Kiffin said.

How to combat this? Attack Dart instead. Hit the ball at the quarterback’s feet.

Kiffin possesses a deft hand as a quarterback developer, and he and Dart enjoy a good rapport. Dart is entering his third season as Ole Miss’ starter. He's among the favorites to contend for the Heisman Trophy, while the Rebels are a popular pick to qualify for the 12-team College Football Playoff.

That’s football, though. No love lost in pickleball.

“We hit at Dart the whole, entire game,” Kiffin said.

Kiffin also had another bit of strategy working for him: He’d selected the best pickleball player he knew as his partner. Jordan’s graduate assistant duties call on him to help coach Ole Miss’ receivers. His chief task on this night, though, was making his boss look good.

No trouble there.

“He’s a phenomenal pickleball player,” Kiffin said of his partner.

The match was scheduled as a best-of-five, but Kiffin and Jordan didn’t let their prey linger. After mounting a 2-0 lead, they intended to complete the sweep. No mercy.

“I watched Sawyer take over like Michael Jordan,” Kiffin said, clearly enjoying himself as he told me this triumphant tale. “We’re like, ‘We’re leaving no doubt. We’re not letting this go to Game 4, certainly not Game 5.’ We were in Game 3, and we’re like, ‘We’re ending it right now.’”

Kiffin gave his partner room to cook.

“I’m a coach, so I’m smart, so I let him take over,” Kiffin said. “I kind of moved over to the side a little bit. He took over, and we got up 6-0 and won 11-3 in the last one.”

Bragging rights secured.

Who's got next?

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

Also, check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, and newsletter, SEC Football Unfiltered. Subscribe to read all of his columns.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss: Inside Lane Kiffin's pickleball victory against Jaxson Dart