So often fans and media get caught up in statistics. You can look at all the box scores and records books in the world and still not have the entire story. Statistics don’t take into account junior point guard Sherron Collins fending off a foul from Memphis’ Derrick Rose in the National Championship setting up a three-point shot for Mario Chalmers. Statistics don’t take into account junior wide receiver recovering an onside kick in the Orange Bowl to help ensure a Kansas victory.

Turning back the clock to last week’s matchup against Louisiana Tech, two plays by junior safety Darrell Stuckey had a bigger influence on the outcome of the game than the box score would suggest: a tackle and a pass deflection. But these two statistics do not give justice for what happened on the field. If not for these two plays, Louisiana Tech could have scored two more touchdowns that would have given fans and media more to gripe about than Kansas’ struggles running the ball.

You may ask, just how invaluable were these plays? In case you missed Stuckey’s touchdown-saving efforts, here is what the box score will not tell you:

The deflection

With Kansas narrowly holding a 3-0 lead, Louisiana Tech managed to put together a 22-play, 82-yard drive lasting more than nine minutes and was threatening to score. At the Jayhawks five-yard line, on second-and-goal, Bulldogs quarterback dropped back for a pass over the middle.

Stuckey is in the end zone covering Bulldogs’ senior tight end Anthony Harrison. Harrison, at 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, is in perfect position to make a reception over a 6-foot-1, 205-pound Stuckey.

“All I remember about that play is, oh man, I let him get inside on me,” Stuckey recalled.

Though Stuckey slipped up, he did not give up and fought through Harrison’s hands, knocking the ball out into sophomore cornerback Chris Harris’ hands. Harris recorded an interception and downed the ball in the end zone. Louisiana Tech touchdown averted.

The tackle

Dodging tackle after tackle, sophomore wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe’s 48-yard touchdown reception not only gave the Jayhawks a 20-0 lead early in the third quarter, but the momentum to put Louisiana Tech away.

But as Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend.”

After Kansas kicked the ball off for a touchback, Louisiana Tech started its drive at its 20-yard line.

On a reverse running play, sophomore wide receiver Phillip Livas darts towards the left sideline and with help from his blockers, breaks into the open. With 4.4-second 40-yard dash speed, Livas would seemingly dart for a touchdown.

But Stuckey is fast too. Over the summer, Stuckey also ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash.

After seeing Livas, Stuckey instinctively puts his head down and started sprinting as fast as he could. Using a technique the coaches drilled into his head called “angle and pursuit,” Stuckey can play catch up.

At Kansas’ 40-yard line, Stuckey is within five yards of Livas. He’s in attack mode and Livas knows he’s being tracked. Livas is turning his head around, as he runs and Stuckey knows he can catch him. If not for a rule against horse-collar tackling, Stuckey could have taken Livas down at the 20-yard line.

“The only thing I’m thinking is, the no horse-collar rule, the no horse-collar rule, the no horse-collar rule, I think if the horse-collar rule wasn’t in effect now I think I probably could have gotten him 15 yards sooner,” Stuckey said jokingly after the game.

Stuckey finally reaches Livas and tackles him at the waist and brings him down at Kansas’ 2-yard line.

Without taking a breath, on the next play, Stuckey tackled Bulldogs’ senior running back Patrick Jackson for a four-yard loss. Lousiana Tech ended up going three-and-out and missed a field goal attempt on fourth down.

With Stuckey’s tackle, the shutout lives.

But in the box score, these plays were merely recorded as a pass deflection and a tackle. It’s all too easy to look at junior quarterback Todd Reesing’s gaudy passing statistics or the running backs’ sub-par average yards per carry against Louisiana Tech to try and make sense of everything. But if Stuckey hadn’t made these plays, Louisiana could have made the score a little too close for comfort.

With that said, getting caught up in the statistics of a game is not entirely bad. They’re great for fantasy baseball in football. In fantasy baseball, a designated hitter that has a .265 batting average and home runs is worth more than a Gold Glove shortstop. In fantasy football, you do not need to have an offensive line to beat opponents. It is in this fantasy world where Stuckey’s statistics are overlooked.

— — Edited by Brieun Scott