So many things in life escape mention until they don’t work right. Third-base coaches, cornerbacks, automobile brakes, deodorant, bullet-proof vests.

Tackling falls into the taken-for-granted category. It enters the conversation only when missed tackles result in losses. Then it’s open season. Talk-show telephone lines jam with venomous voices bragging about how they never missed tackles playing freshman football.

Nobody’s talking about this Kansas University football team’s tackling, which, of course, is a very good thing. Two weeks into the 12-game schedule, the Jayhawks have shown an ability to hit hard and finish the job.

“As a defense, we’ve been coming up 30 minutes early before team meetings because we don’t just want to be a good defense, we want to be a great defense,” senior cornerback Chris Harris said. “We’ve done a great job of tackling the first two games. That’s the first thing we said we wanted to be as a defense. We wanted to be more physical.”

The key to sound tackling?

“Keeping your eyes up,” Harris said. “A lot of guys miss tackles because they duck their heads.”

What causes them to duck?

“Probably just the impact,” Harris said. “You might be kind of scared of the impact or it’s just something that happens. You just have to prepare yourself and get used to tackling, but sometimes you do close your eyes.”

Junior linebacker Steven Johnson also spoke to the important role eyes play in tackling.

“It’s taught to us that we club, run our feet, run our feet, eyes to the sky and just bring him to the ground,” Johnson said. “Eyes to the sky brings your hips into the tackle. That’s where all your power comes from is your legs. Usually, people think your tackle comes from your upper body, but the more you bring your legs into the tackle, the harder the hit’s going to be.”

Asked to name the key, true freshman defensive end Keba Agostinho also cited the eyes.

“You’ve got to keep your eyes open and you’ve got to watch the waist,” he said. “Some people will try to take big shots with their eyes closed. That’s when you miss. Some people try to guess. That’s when you miss.”

Kansas defenders have made big play after big play with open-field tackles, plays that will be more difficult to execute Friday night when KU faces its fastest opponent so far, host Southern Mississippi.

“Our coaches have been telling us to go in there and take a shot,” Harris said of the open-field tackling. “Don’t break down too fast because a lot of these good athletes in the open field, it’s harder to tackle them if you don’t take your shot.”

By breaking down, Harris said he meant, “when you run up to the guy and you just chop your feet, like break down in front of him instead of just running through him and making your shot.”

Agostinho said the team’s sound tackling came from turning a weakness into a strength.

“We do tackle circuits every day,” he said. “Throughout fall camp, we had a lot of missed tackles, so we hit the tackle circuit pretty hard.”

It will take covering deep threats, not just good tackling, to tame the offense of Brett Favre’s alma mater. You can’t tackle what you can’t touch.