BATON ROUGE — During the preseason, Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin asked the media present if they drank Coke?

The beverage company is one of the title sponsors for the Rebels football program and he went to point out the amount of sugar was in the 20-ounce bottle of Coke on his lectern as well as admitted he hadn't had one "in a long time."

That viral moment sparked a response from LSU football coach Brian Kelly the following day during his news conference that poked fun at Kiffin and his jab at the sponsor. Coca-Cola is also a title sponsor for LSU athletics and Kelly took the podium laughingly praising the company's products.

"Just to shout out our sponsor, Coke," Kelly said. "You know, Smart Water, a great Coke product. Minerals, vitamins, it's just great for you. Refreshing, healthy. And Coke provides you all the products you need depending on what you like. And I love Smart Water."

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Kelly and Kiffin have a great relationship that dates back to their respective times at Notre Dame and USC as opposing head coaches. The two will coach against each other once again in a top-10 matchup between the No. 10 Tigers (4-1, 1-0 SEC) and No. 8 Rebels (5-1, 1-1) inside Tiger Stadium on Saturday night (6:30 p.m., ABC).

Kiffin has become sort of a social media savant, notably making fun and joking around with legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban, Georgia coach Kirby Smart, former LSU coach Ed Orgeron and several other college football figureheads. The Ole Miss coach has created an image for himself and he has stuck with it during the course of his time at Florida Atlantic and now in Oxford, Mississippi.

No one is safe from Kiffin's wit, not opposing coaches, his own players nor himself.

And to Kelly, there's something endearing about that. Kiffin has nearly 700,000 followers on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and he recently made viral appearances on his daughters' TikTok account where they showed their gameday routine.

When asked about Kiffin's gift of gab Monday, Kelly said what his fellow head coach brings to the table is good for the game.

"I just think you have to look at how many followers he has on Twitter," Kelly said.

"Lane has a positive outlook on the game and he's certainly been an essential figure in college football. He can poke fun at himself and others. I think he's good for college football."

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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU coach Brian Kelly: Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is good for the game