Kansas was on the losing end of a 31-27 heartbreaking loss to their in-state rival, giving up the last 15 points of the game. Head coach Lance Leipold addressed some missed opportunities, the play of Cole Ballard in the absence of Jason Bean and how close they are to closing the gap that Kansas State has on them.

There are two plays that stick out to Leipold after the tough loss. First, was Rich Miller dropping what was a sure pick six when the Jayhawks had a 27-16 lead. The second came when Trevor Wilson muffed a punt at the Kansas State 45 with a chance to expand on a 27-24 lead.

"We have a possible pick six that puts us up 18, okay, we fumble up on midfield," Leipold said.

Those two plays ended up being costly for the Jayhawks, but they were not the end of the miscues, as Ballard threw two interceptions as well. Leipold was not too critical of the second one, which came on fourth down with the game on the line.

"The fourth down throw, it's going to get thrown anyway," Leipold said. "You got to throw the ball. But the other one, I think he tried to make a real difficult throw."

Leipold hammered in the fact that while these plays were crucial, they were not the only thing that held the Jayhawks back from victory.

"There's other plays in there that probably happen and there's other reasons," Leipold said. "So it's not on two, three, four players or anything like that. You win and lose as a team, but those are some of the ones I think that people are probably thinking about as well."

The week leading up to the game was filled with theories on who would play quarterback for the Jayhawks, with it ultimately being Ballard that came out for the first series. Despite this, Bean was available.

"He (Bean) was available, he was cleared to play, but just based on practice time and things like that, we had made the decision that was going to best to go with Cole and see how that was," Leipold said.

He also stated that Bean "was available if something happened," but Ballard was in command of the offense. Even though he had the two interceptions, Leipold was pleased with his overall performance.

"Cole Ballard is mature beyond his years and he keeps battling and he doesn't let things rattle him," Leipold said.

Ballard only passed the ball 16 times, completing 11 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown. He got a lot of help with the wildcat formation, as Torry Locklin and Devin Neal took some snaps as well.

"I thought our coaches and the guys executed a game plan really well," Leipold said. "We were able to give a lot of different looks. I thought Torry Locklin did some nice things."

It has not been a secret in the state of Kansas that there has been a gap between the two football programs in the state. After all, Saturday's result marks 15 wins in a row for the Wildcats. However, Leipold can sense that the Jayhawks are getting closer to closing that gap.

The first sign of that was how his team handled a rough start as opposed to last year's loss the Kansas State.

"I think a year ago on the road, we had some miscues early and it snowballed on us," Leipold said. "This time we didn't have a great start and we battled back and I think that's a sign of growth."

Leipold knows that they were just a few plays away from ending a 14-year long streak, and that they can not afford to make the mistakes they made when it comes to overtaking their rival.

"We're close, but again, we can name some plays and some opportunities and stuff like that has to better," Leipold said. "And again, when you play ranked football teams and things like that, you got to be able to do that. And we didn't, so we come up short."

He also stated that they are more talented than they were two years ago, which is helping them a lot. Through all of it, Leipold does not want there to be any sign of the Jayhawks taking moral victories.

"We don't get extra points for being close," Leipold said.