MIDLAND, Mich. — Five turnovers and 138 yards in penalties usually don’t bode well on a Saturday afternoon.

But Nigel Barksdale trumped all of that.

Only nine months removed from major knee surgery, Slippery Rock University’s senior quarterback threw for 465 yards and a school-record six touchdown passes Saturday as SRU opened its 2013 football season with a 51-36 triumph at Northwood (Mich.).

The Rock’s first play from scrimmage was Barksdale throwing a 73-yard scoring pass to Ken Amos. The play occurred 15 seconds into the game.

“That was an excellent way to start the season,” SRU coach George Mihalik said. “Nigel was outstanding today.”

Three Rock receivers — John Schademan, Amos and Jaimire Dutrieuille — had more than 100 receiving yards Saturday. LaQuinn Stephens-Howling had 96.

SRU took a 30-17 lead into halftime before Northwood scored twice to tie the game with 8:46 still left in the third quarter. The Rock took control from there.

Less than two minutes later, Barksdale tossed a 53-yard scoring strike to Stephens-Howling. He added a 2-yard TD pass to Robert Joyce with 12:57 remaining in the game.

Anthony Saunders finally iced the contest by returning an interception 28 yards for a score just 15 seconds later.

The two teams combined for 57 first downs and 1,127 yards of offense. Northwood quarterback Mitch Robinson threw for 362 yards and three touchdowns.

“One of the keys was they threw the ball 44 times and they didn’t want to do that,” Mihalik said. “We held their ground game to 90 yards (on 36 carries) and that’s their bread and butter.

“When you’re a fully-funded program, you have athletes and Northwood definitely has athletes. They made some plays on us.”

The Rock ran off a school-record 110 offensive plays. SRU might have scored more than 51 points, but lost a pair of fumbles inside the Timberwolves’ 10-yard line.

The Rock lost three fumbles and threw two interceptions on the day. The team’s 138 penalty yards came on eight flags.

SRU converted 14 of 25 third downs, Northwood only four of 17.

“This was one of those wild, crazy games. We made plays when we had to on both sides of the ball,” Mihalik said.

Mars graduate Austin Miele led The Rock with nine tackles. Slippery Rock High graduate Tony Papley registered SRU’s lone quarterback sack of the day.

Barksdale’s 465 yards passing marked the second-most in one game in SRU history. John Linhart threw for 502 yards against Clarion on Nov. 7, 1992.

The Rock will play its home opener at 6 p.m. Saturday against Shippensburg at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

SRU 51, Northwood 36

Slippery Rock 14 16 7 14 — 51

Northwood 14 3 13 6 — 36

SRU N

35 First Downs 22

61-203 Rushes-Yards 36-90

472 Passing Yards 362

28-49-2 Comp.-Att.-Int 23-44-1

675 Total Yards 472

3-3 Fumbles-Lost 0-0

8-138 Penalty Yards 7-71

First Quarter

SRU — Ken Amos 73 pass from Nigel Barksdale (Brian Shaw kick), 14:45

N — Cameron Jackson 32 pass from Mitch Robinson (Alex Faust kick), 12:21

SRU — John Schademan 7 pass from Nigel Barksdale (Shaw kick), 7:23

N — Jackson 4 run (Faust kick), 2:11

Second Quarter

SRU — Schademan 19 pass from Barksdale (kick blocked), 10:37

N — Faust 36 field goal, 5:38

SRU — Jaimire Dutrieuille 19 pass from Barksdale, 2:48

SRU — Mike Wainauskis 30 field goal, :13

Third Quarter

N — Glenn Winston 1 run (kick failed), 12:59

N — C. Thompson 53 pass from Robinson (Faust kick), 8:546

SRU — LaQuinn Stephens-Howling 53 pass from Barksdale (Wainauskis kick), 7:08

Fourth Quarter

SRU — Robert Joyce 2 pass from Barksdale (Wainauskis kick), 12:57

SRU — Anthony Saunders 28 interception return (Wainauskis kick), 12:42

N —Theron Wilson 17 pass from Robinson (kick blocked), 9:02

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SRU, Shamar Greene 22-89, Teddy Blakeman 13-41, Nigel Barksdale 14-27, Zack Newsock 5-22, Brett Crenshaw 3-15, Jimmy Zubik 3-5, Jaimire Dutrieuille 1-4. Northwood, Glenn Winston 16-43, Cameron Jackson 11-42, Mitch Robinson 5-8, Jordan Jonker 3-3, TEAM 1-(-6).

Passing: SRU, Nigel Barksdale 27-48-465-2, Zack Newsock 1-1-7-0. Northwood, Mitch Robinson 23-44-362-1.

Receiving: SRU, Ken Amos 6-116, Jaimire Dutrieuille 6-116, John Schademan 6-108, LaQuinn Stephens-Howling 4-96, Shamar Greene 3-11, Julian Harrell 2-23, Robert Joyce 1-2 . Northwood, Eric Williams 7-85, C.Thompson 5-104, Devonta Elzy 3-41, Cameron Jackson 2-41, Cory Goble 2-24, Logan Yordanich 1-28, T.Stocker 1-18, Theron Wilson 1-17, Glenn Winston 1-4.