Rob Ambrose plans to start junior transfer quarterback Chris Hart Thursday night against the Indiana Hoosiers. Ambrose says that he chose Hart because of his ability to move the ball down the field.

Following a 2-9 season their first year under head coach Rob Ambrose, the Towson Tigers open the 2010 football season Thursday, Sept. 2, against the Indiana Hoosiers.
Ambrose staged a quarterback competition this summer for the starting position, and at a practice on August 31, Ambrose officially announced transfer quarterback Chris Hart will start against the Hoosiers.
“If you took the course of work over camp and what we could do successfully, I said it wasn’t about who’s the best passer, the best runner or the best true leader,” Ambrose said. “It was about the guy who could consistently get the ball up and down the field with the offense. He did that the most out of all of them. Chris gives us the best chance to be successful.”
Thursday’s game will be the second straight year Towson will be playing a Big Ten opponent, after playing Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. last season. Towson lost that game, 47-14.
The Tigers have rallied around their “six seconds” mantra for the upcoming season. How did it come about?
“The average football play is six seconds,” Ambrose said. “That’s all we’re asking for. Heart, body and soul for six seconds. You do that as long as you can until you can’t do it with everything you’ve got. All you got, just for six seconds. If you do that over and over again, you’ll have a chance to compete and win.”
Indiana enters the game with a high-octane offense and a precise quarterback in Ben Chappell, who threw for 2,941 yards and 17 touchdowns last season while completing 62.6 percent of his passes. He’ll be throwing to Tandon Doss, the team’s leading receiver a year ago with 77 catches for 962 yards. Damarlo Belcher and Terrance Turner also return and each caught more than 45 passes last season.
“I’m expecting a hell of a passing offense,” Ambrose said of his team’s first opponent after a recent scrimmage.
The Tigers counter with an offense that could be run heavy, with returning leading rusher Tremayne Dameron. With an improved offensive line paving the way, Dameron will look to improve upon the 588 yards he gained last season. He also scored a team-high eight touchdowns.
“I know that we can’t give them the ball,” Ambrose said of their opponent. “The biggest thing we have to do is never turn the ball over. Their money is on offense.”
A plethora of wide receivers, led by senior Hakeem Moore and sophomore Tom Ryan, will be the main threats in the passing game.
If Indiana is as explosive as Ambrose thinks, Towson is lucky to have two senior cornerbacks who can stick with the Hoosier wide-outs in Jeremy Gardner and Ollie Thomas. Dwayne Price, Ray White and transfer safety Jordan Dangerfield will also have to be at the top of their game in the defensive secondary for Towson.
“This is going to be a big test for us both up front and in the back seven,” Ambrose said.
The Hoosiers are switching defensive alignments, according to Ambrose, though he mentioned that Indiana did have the potential athletes to make it work for head coach Bill Lynch. Lynch is entering his fourth season at Indiana after taking over for Terry Hoeppner, who died of a brain tumor in 2007. Though he has a 95-90-3 record in 18 seasons as a head coach, Lynch is just 14-22 at Indiana. Still, Ambrose knows the Hoosiers are a tough opponent and has solid leadership in Lynch.
“He is a very good football coach,” Ambrose said, who coached against Lynch when the latter was head coach at Ball State. “He’ll have them ready to play.”