Despite an explosive offense featuring QB Chad Kelly and TE Evan Engram, among others, the Ole Miss Rebels are often dominated by opponents in terms of time of possession.

However, as DE John Youngblood told ESPN.com, that doesn’t mean the Rebels are ineffective on that side of the ball. It’s simply that the Ole Miss offense is just as likely to score a quick touchdown as it is to go three-and-out:

“Sometimes a three-and-out is just as fast as when the offense scores,” Ole Miss defensive end John Youngblood said. “Some of the drives that they score on, it takes 30, 40, 50 seconds and they’re in the end zone. But it is tough because at the end of the game, I looked up at the clock at Arkansas and they had 40 minutes [of] time of possession to our 20. At the end of the day, we are playing a lot more football than the other team’s defense.”

Getting doubled up in time of possession makes things hard for the Rebels’ defense, but coach Hugh Freeze said that’s what Ole Miss is going to continue to do:

“That’s who we’ve been ever since we’ve been here,” Freeze said. “And we’ve won a lot of football games doing that. We think about [how it affects the defense] quite frequently, to be honest. But when we tend to slow down, we’re not near as effective offensively, it seems. I think you’ve got to play to what your strengths are.”

However, against LSU and star RBs Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice on Saturday night in Death Valley, playing a bit slower on offense would help the Rebels.

Keeping the Tiger backs from grinding out long possessions on the ground to wear out the Ole Miss defense and taking the fans out of it with long, sustained offensive drives would only serve to boost the Rebels’ chances of escaping Baton Rouge with a win.

See if the Rebels can hold their own against a rejuvenated LSU offense on Saturday night at 8 p.m. Central time on ESPN.