The Five Factors box score tells us that Saturday night’s game was incredibly evenly matched. Vanderbilt had a slight advantage in yards per play, was slightly better at finishing drives, and won the turnover battle by one. Kansas State had a slight edge in success rate (look at the mirror images in yards per play and success rate — Vanderbilt couldn’t run the ball but had a lot of success through the air, while Kansas State was very much the reverse) and a somewhat larger advantage in field position.
A game like that was bound to come down to a few plays, and let’s be clear: Kansas State made some mistakes.