SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University football coach George Mihalik wondered how long it would take his offense to begin clicking under its new spread attack.

No worries.

It took all of one set of downs Thursday night at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

After going three-and-out on its opening series, The Rock offense scored touchdowns on its next four possessions and SRU cruised to a 52-6 season-opening win over Seton Hill.

“I'm very satisfied,” Mihalik said. “And I'm impressed with the poise and composure our guys showed in executing that attack.”

Sophomore Jared Buck, making his first collegiate start at quarterback, connected on 11 of his first 12 passes, hitting eight different receivers. Included were touchdown tosses of 17 yards to tight end Josh Gardner, 10 yards to Mike Bongivengo and 28 yards to Ken Amos.

Buck also scored himself on a 1-yard run as The Rock took a 35-0 lead into halftime.

“That's what this offense is ... Read through the progressions. Somebody has to be open,” Buck said. “It's up to me to find the open man.”

Akeem Satterfield had 13 carries for 112 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

“What's nice about this offense is Akeem still got his yards without the wear and tear on his body,” Mihalik said.

“I love it,” Satterfield said of the new offense. “The spread really opens up the running game.”

The Rock defense did its part as well, collecting six quarterback sacks, limiting the Griffins to negative 16 yards rushing, forcing four turnovers and scoring a touchdown itself.

Anthony Saunders returned an interception 50 yards for a score in the second quarter.

“Anthony read that play well in stepping in front of the receiver, then showed off his speed,” Mihalik said. “That was the play that seemed to take the wind out of their sails.”

The Rock also produced a goal-line stand in the closing seconds of the first half. Seton Hill ran seven successive plays from inside the SRU 4-yard line, aided by a pair of penalties, but could not find the end zone.

“Our motto on defense is to be relentless,” defensive tackle Tony Papley said. “We just got after it. We like to pin our ears back and go right from the start.

“We got early pressure on the quarterback and fed off that.”

Papley, a Slippery Rock High School graduate, had six tackles and 1.5 sacks. Jeff Thompson had 2.5 sacks for The Rock.

Four of SRU's six offensive touchdowns were on drives of 56 yards or less. A Kurt Brackman 26-yard field goal resulted from a recovered Seton Hill fumble at the Griffins' 13-yard line.

“Our defense was always playing with a short field,” Seton Hill coach Joel Dolinski said. “We didn't have much margin for error all night.

“Slippery Rock has good players and they made a number of good plays. We made too many mistakes.”

The family of the late Derek Durand, a Freeport graduate and freshman receiver for The Rock who died earlier this summer, was on hand to serve as honorary captains for the season opener.

Mihalik improved to 8-1 in season home openers at home and SRU won its fourth straight season opener.

The Rock returns to action Sept. 8 when it travels to PSAC East foe Shippensburg.

SRU 52, Seton Hill 6

Seton Hill 0 0 6 0 — 6

Slippery Rock 14 21 17 0 — 52

SH SR

14 First Downs 18

33-(-16) Rushes-Yards 44-172

207 Passing Yards 137

20-43-3 Comp.-Att.-Int 13-17-1

191 Total Yards 309

1-1 Fumbles-Lost 0-0

15-107 Penalty Yards 6-63

First Quarter

SRU — Josh Gardner 17 pass from Jared Buck (Kurt Brackman kick), 10:01

SRU — Mike Bongivengo 10 pass from Buck (Brackman kick), 3:43

Second Quarter

SRU — Buck 1 run (Brackman kick), 13:56

SRU — Anthony Saunders 50 interception return (Brackman kick), 11:43

SRU — Ken Amos 28 pass from Buck (Brackman kick), 8:32

Third Quarter

SRU — Brackman 26 field goal, 14:02

SRU — Akeem Satterfield 27 run (Brackman kick), 12:25

SH — Tavin Davis 1 run (Josh Cavalier kick), 8:12

SRU — Brett Crenshaw 2 run (Brackman kick), 5:58

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Seton Hill, Derrick Dyer 6-9, Tavin Davis 11-(-1), Ahman Milot 1-(-1), Dorian Evans 1-(-2), Trae Cook 3-(-2), Ryan Morris 11-(-19). SRU, Akeem Satterfield 13-112, Jared Buck 10-36, Jimmy Zubik 11-36, Brett Crenshaw 5-4, Nigel Barksdale 5-(-16).

Passing: Seton Hill, Ryan Morris 20-42-207-2, Andrew Jackson 0-1-0-1. SRU, Jared Buck 11-14-127-0, Nigel Barksdale 1-2-4-1, Caleb Vescovi 1-1-6-0.

Receiving: Seton Hill, DJ Carter 5-74, Darvin Henderson 4-39, Derrick Dyer 3-21, Eric Frye 2-15, Tavin Davis 2-14, Trae Cook 2-7, Niko Hall-Brown 1-29, Johnathon Feagin 1-8. SRU, Mike Bongivengo 3-19, Ken Amos 2-34, Jaimire Dutrieuille 2-13, Jimmy Zubik 2-10, John Schademan 1-27, Josh Gardner 1-17, Akeem Satterfield 1-10, LaQuinn Stephens-Howling 1-7.