Pat Fitzgerald always says it’s scary this Northwestern team hasn’t played four quarters of three-phase football, yet it still manages to compete and win.

But here’s a scarier thought this Halloween: What if this team can’t play a full 60-minute game?

The Wildcats once again came out of the gates firing on all cylinders against Penn State. Against a monstrous defense, the Cats showed no fear. On its touchdown drive in the second quarter, NU went 80 yards on eight plays and took less than three minutes to do so.

Then, the defense sustained the momentum by stopping Penn State’s Evan Royster and forcing a punt. On the following drive, the game-changing moment happened: quarterback Mike Kafka went out with a leg injury. And that’s going to be what’s taken away from this game: If Kafka was in the game, the Cats could have won.

Kafka is a better passer than sophomore Dan Persa. Kafka makes better decisions with the ball than Persa. Kafka handles the blitz better than Persa. That said, Cats wouldn’t have won, even with Kafka.

Against Michigan State two weeks ago, the Cats also played a great first half of football, and it looked like they’d be able to win a big game. Then in the second half they imploded. The same series of events happened against Eastern Michigan, only NU squeaked out a win. Then there are the games like Syracuse and Indiana, when the Cats dig themselves into an early hole and have to desperately claw their way out.

In a 12-game season, eight games is a pretty good sample size. With or without Kafka starting under center, this team – whether it’s physically or mentally – can’t sustain a high level of play throughout an entire game.

“It’s obviously something we’ve been trying to do since the Syracuse game,” senior safety Brad Phillips said, about playing a full 60 minutes. “You’ve just got to keep doing what you’re doing, you’ve got to keep sticking to the plan, keep practicing hard and come out and keep the energy level up the whole game and keep your focus the whole game.”

Clearly, what NU is doing is not working. Phillips mentions the energy level and focus, which to me signals a breakdown both physically and mentally.

Emphasizing “the finish” during practice can only go so far. If this team can’t handle the adversity of a quarterback change, then NU is not strong enough mentally. Fitzgerald and the players can deny the momentum changed when Kafka was injured all they want, but a simple eye test showed me when Kafka left, the team did not have the same look of confidence as earlier in the game.

If the defense gives up big plays at the most crucial juncture of the game, and the offense can’t pick up a yard on third-and-one, then NU is not strong enough physically. That includes Persa, who short-armed and checked down so many passes he didn’t even give the offense a chance to move the chains. Backups on defense didn’t help matters either – a Justan Vaughn-Brian Peters combination gave up the 53-yard touchdown pass to Derek Moye.

Fitzgerald threw out his typical answer to any adversity: “Pick up the flag, time to move on.” And as much as I hate that saying (someone needs to tell Fitz it’s “pick up the slack”), in this case, he’s right.

Quarterback may be the most important position on the field, but it’s not the only one. The offensive line needed to provide good pass protection, and it didn’t. Special teams needed to give the offense good field position, and it bobbled three kickoffs. The defense needed to keep the game close, and it gave up a 53-yard pass and a 69-yard run on consecutive one-play scoring drives.

So don’t talk about what could have been if Kafka were in the game. Through three quarters, NU was in a position to win. That includes a full quarter without Kafka in at quarterback, a special teams unit that wasn’t laughable and a defense that knew how to run a cover-2.

The quarterback position is overanalyzed. Don’t make it worse by pinning the loss on Kafka’s injury. This is a team game and it was a team loss. Who knows, next week’s game at Iowa could be Persa’s coming out party just like Minnesota was Kafka’s last year.

If that’s the case, everyone will see this game for what it really was – another example of the Cats inability to execute for a full game.