Chris Hart - file photo by Casey Prather/ The Towerlight

The Towson Tigers opened the 2010 football season the same way they did in 2009, with a big loss to a Big Ten opponent. Thursday night at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind., the Tigers fell to the Indiana Hoosiers by a 51-17 final score.

Towson started the game off strong, stopping the Indiana offense on the first series of the game by making the Hoosiers go three and out.

On Towson’s first offensive possession, quarterback Chris Hart connected with sophomore wide receiver Alex Blake at the Tigers 37-yardline. Blake turned up field, but lost the ball. He appeared to have fumbled, but the official ruling was an interception by Tyler Replogle because the ball never touched the ground.

The Hoosiers were easily able to capitalize when quarterback Ben Chappell threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Ted Bolser five plays later, putting the Hoosiers ahead 7-0 early in the first quarter. Chappell started the game off well, completing his first five passes and 10 of his first 12.

After Hart’s second interception of the first quarter gave the ball back to Indiana near midfield, Darius Willis found a crease and went 49 yards for the Hoosiers second touchdown of the game, putting Towson in an early 14-0 hole with 8:26 in the first quarter.

But Hart helped Towson respond in the second quarter. After a 42-yard rush from the mobile quarterback, Tom Ryan caught his first career touchdown pass from Hart, a five yard score that put Towson’s first points of the season on the board and bringing Towson within 17-7. The sophomore receiver, expected to be a heavy contributor in the passing game this season, finished the game with a team-high five catches for 41 yards and the touchdown.

But Hart wasn’t done in the quarter. This time, he connected with senior wideout Hakeem Moore, the team’s leading returning receiver, for a 64-yard catch and run that momentarily put a scare in Indiana, as the Hoosiers led just 24-14 with 10:16 to play in the first half.

But 24 unanswered points by Indiana, including an interception of Hart that was returned for a touchdown, put Indiana in the driver’s seat 48-14 with 8:37 to go in the third quarter.

Chappell, one of the leading returning quarterbacks in the Big Ten, played just two and a half quarters before being pulled with the game well in hand, yet completed 17-24 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns.

Hart, in his first career start for the Tigers, was a dual threat quarterback and finished the game with 288 total yards (165 passing, 123 rushing). He did, however, throw three interceptions, along with the two touchdowns.