Mike Kafka has shown he can run his way to a Wildcats’ win. On Saturday, the senior quarterback proved he could lead the offense to a victory through the air too.
“Maybe it’s the best kept secret in the Big Ten Conference,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said of Kafka’s arm. “When he plays within the system and stays within himself, he’s as dynamic of a dual-threat quarterback as there is in the country.”
Last year, Kafka rushed for a combined 300 yards in his two starts, including a Big Ten quarterback record 217 yards in an upset victory at Minnesota.
Kafka finished Saturday’s game with only six rushing yards. By throwing for a career-best 192 yards through the air, he made up for his lack of yards on the ground.
Kafka quickly put any doubts about his arm to rest, going 4-for-4 for 60 yards on the Cats’ first possession. Kafka impressed with three straight completions, including a 27-yard pass to senior wide receiver Andrew Brewer on the Northwestern sideline. Brewer, who caught five passes from Kafka for 73 yards, was Kafka’s favorite target. The gunslinger completed 15 of 20 passes.
Unlike other players on NU’s offense, Kafka is not new to the Cats’ spread offense set. He started the first four games of his redshirt freshman season before being sidelined with an injury. After Kafka played sparingly in 2007, Fitzgerald turned to him to fill in for the injured C.J. Bachér last year.
While the player under center is important to any offense, especially offensive coordiantor Mick McCall’s, the coaches aren’t looking for Kafka to do anything extraordinary.
“I don’t think there’s any pressure on Mike,” Fitzgerald said. “I just think Mike needs to go out and play within our offense. We don’t ask him to do anything magical, we just ask him to play to his strengths.”
Though the Cats lost their three leading receivers from last year, Kafka is used to working with many of the new receivers.
“When Mike was working with the (second team), that was a lot of us,” Brewer said. “So we got some good chemistry with Mike that we developed not just in the offseason of last year but for the last couple of years.”
In addition to posting his best career passing total, Kafka did not turn the ball over. He tossed three interceptions last year and has thrown eight in his career. According to Kafka, taking care of the football was something that former NU and current Chicago Bears quarterback Brett Basanez stressed when the two trained together this offseason.
“Every quarterback should say that, and Brett definitely told me that,” Kafka said. “We stressed it when we were watching film, take care of the football-that’s the biggest thing. If they don’t have the ball, we’re taking up clock, we’re moving the field, managing the game, then we’re going to be alright.”
Even after a career day, Kafka said he knows there is still work to be done.
“We need to get better,” he said. “There are some things that we left out there that offensively, protection-wise, that we need to get fixed up, and we will. It was a good learning day, and we’re all excited to get back after it next week and learn and just keep on gaining momentum.”
