For once, it was the other team that couldn’t get out of its own way.
It’s not often that you lose the battle in four of the five factors and come away with a win. Vanderbilt lost, bigly, in success rate (44.9% to 36.7%) and yards per play (6.3 to 4.4.) They lost, narrowly, the field position battle (Colorado State’s average drive started on the 26.7 yard line compared to 24.4 for Vanderbilt, with each team getting one short field off a turnover.) Each team committed one turnover.
The difference was that Vanderbilt cashed in its scoring opportunities and Colorado State left points on the field.