On a third-and-14 early in the third quarter of Saturday's night season opener, Towson quarterback Grant Enders stoically held his ground in the pocket, and after not being able to find an open receiver, he scrambled through a pack of Morgan State defenders for a first down.

Three plays later, he found Tyler Wharton for a 12-yard touchdown.

That type of versatility is expected to add a new dimension to Towson's new-look offense, which kept the Bears off-balance in a 42-3 victory before 9,759 — the third largest crowd in Johnny Unitas Stadium's history.

The Tigers' defense, which returned eight starters, was also dominant, holding Morgan State to just 160 total yards.

It was the first time Towson scored more than 30 points in a regulation game since Oct. 10, 2009 — a 36-28 victory over Rhode Island. The Tigers also racked up more than 500 yards of total offense for the first time in five years.

"Guys understand the system on both sides of the ball and special teams," Towson coach Rob Ambrose said. "We have a mentality where it's the next guy up. Should anybody go down, we expect you to step up. These guys are stepping up and having fun...working hard and winning."

Enders, an Old Mill product who transferred prior to the season from Lackawanna Junior College, completed 15-of-19 passes for 197 yards. He also threw three touchdown passes and ran for another with one interception.

"I felt comfortable out there," Enders said. "Everybody on the offense gave me a lot of support. We had a good game plan and I was overall confident in what we were trying to accomplish."

Wharton caught three passes for 42 yards and two touchdowns. Towson's three running backs — Tremayne Dameron, Dominique Booker and Sterlin Phifer — combined for 190 yards on 33 carries.

After finishing 1-10 and 0-8 in the Colonial Athletic Association last year, the Tigers are looking to have a breakthrough season and be more competitive in a league with six nationally-ranked teams.

Morgan State's struggles continued after last season's 4-7 campaign when they ranked last offensively in the 117-team Football Championship Subdivision.

The Bears' Tyrone Hendrix took the opening kickoff 85 yards, but the Tigers held them to negative-2 yards on the next three plays. Morgan State still took the early lead on a 33-yard field goal by Abraham Mercado. But the Tigers answered on the ensuing drive when Enders found Tyler Wharton on a 19-yard pass.

Hendrix had two returns for 140 yards. The Tigers only punted once in the game.

The Tigers carried a 14-3 lead at the half after Enders found Gerard Sheppard (McDonogh) cutting across the middle of the field for a 25-yard score. That capped a 13-play, 77-yard drive that ate almost eight minutes off the clock.

"Coming from Baltimore, I know those guys at Morgan," Sheppard said. "We just want to keep it competitive."

Morgan State had just 89 yards in the first half with just four first downs, and things did not get much better in third quarter.

The Tigers increased their lead to 21-3 with 9:20 left in the third quarter on Enders' pass to Wharton. Five minutes later, Enders ran 18 yards and the lead was 25. Phifer put the game out of reach with a 2-yard touchdown run with 42 seconds left in the third quarter.

Peter Athens relieved Enders in the fourth quarter and threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Spencer Wilkins (Mount Hebron).

"They made a lot more plays than we made in all phases of the game," Morgan State coach Donald Hill-Eley said. "The things about this particular team is totally different than what they were doing last year."