No SEC coach needed a win this weekend more than Gus Malzahn.

Auburn finally delivered that to its embattled coach with a 31-16 road win in Oxford over Ole Miss that wasn’t even as close as the final score would indicate. The Tigers dominated the Rebels in this one, gashing the Landsharks for 269 rushing yards and adding another 215 passing yards for good measure.

Auburn is now 5-3 on the season with an SEC record of 2-3. Ole Miss dropped to 5-3 overall, with a 1-3 league mark.

Here’s what Malzahn had about his team returning to form this weekend.

“We were able to run the football. That’s getting back to Auburn football, that’s what we have got to do to be successful,” Malzahn said.

On what this win means for his team:

“Well, we got a little momentum. It was a tough week, tough two weeks,” Malzahn continued. “We got great character on this team, like I told you before the game, good fight. We are going to finish this thing strong. We still have a good team, we’ve been through some tough patches but it was a big win for us.”

As far as SEC games go, Auburn now heads into a bye week then hosts Texas A&M before hitting the road for the final two SEC games on the schedule — at Georgia and at Alabama.

On the upcoming bye week:

“We need to heal up a little bit, to see where we are at. Give us a chance to finish this thing right down the stretch,” Malzahn said of his team’s off week.

On if his team can keep up the momentum gained from this win:

“I expect that we will the rest of the season.”

On the questions regarding his job status this week:

“We have great fans, okay. That’s part of it. That’s part of the deal. We weren’t happy with how we played (heading into this game).”

on the play of Marlon Davidson:

“Blocking three field goals in three weeks, that’s unbelievable.”