TOWSON, Md. - The Towson Tigers open their 2012 season against their fifth FBS opponent when they face Kent State on Thursday night from Dixon Stadium at 7pm.

The Tigers are 0-4 against FBS opponents, falling at Navy (41-13), at Northwestern (47-14), at Indiana (51-17) and last year losing at the University of Maryland, 28-3. This will be the first FBS opponent Towson faces this season as the Tigers will travel to Baton Rouge on September 29 to face LSU.

The Golden Flashes are coming off a 5-7 season that started off weak but finished strong. In head coach Darrell Hazell's first season, the Golden Flashes opened the season with one win in their first seven games (1-6), with their lone win coming over then-FCS South Alabama. After the bye week, Kent State won four of its last five games.

In 2011, Kent State was a defensive-minded team. They allowed just 24.2 points per game and forced 26 turnovers while committing 24. The Golden Flashes also allowed 326.2 yards per game, with just 129.8 yards per game on the ground and 196.3 yards per game in the air.

Offensively, Kent State struggled statistically last season, as they averaged 17.1 points and 253.5 yards per game. They rushed for 108.1 yards per game and passed for 145.4 yards

This season, Kent State returns nine starters on offense including senior quarterback Spencer Keith (6-3, 221), who won the starting job in fall camp. Keith threw for 1,682 yards and completed 51.1% of his passes for 11 touchdowns with only eight interceptions.

The offense gets a big boost with the return of junior RB Dri Archer (5-8, 175), a very fast back who was ineligible last season. He'll team up with sophomore Traylon Durham(6-0, 247)who rushed for 644 yards (3.4ypc) and scored four times.

With Goode out, senior Matthew Hurdle (6-3, 185) will have to step up. He caught 20 passes for 251 yards and one touchdown last year. Sophomore Chris Humphrey (6-0, 190) and senior Eric Adeyemi (6-0, 180) are also in the mix at receiver. Adeyemi was mainly a returner last season but the Kentucky transfer could provide deep speed on offense. Kent State also can move the speedy Archer to the slot receiver position.

The offensive line returns three starters including senior left tackle Brian Winters (6-5, 310). The Golden Flashes average a little over 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds across the board.

Defensively, Kent State is absolutely loaded with nine returning starters to a unit that ranked in the top three in the MAC in nearly every defensive category in 2011.

"It will be the best defense Towson has ever lined up against," said Tiger head coach Rob Ambrose. "It's that good. There are multiple draft picks on that defense. They are strong on the defensive line, the linebackers are extremely impressive and the secondary is strong."

The defensive line is led by junior defensive tackle Roosevelt Nix (5-11, 245), an extremely athletic player who was named to the All-MAC first team for the second straight season. He led the team with 17 tackles for a loss and finished second in sacks with 4.5. He also forced a team-high three fumbles and totaled 39 tackles.

Nix saw a lot of double-teams last year and that allowed other players on the line including senior Jake Dooley (6-2, 240) to prosper. The senior led the team in sacks last year with five and was second in tackles for a loss and also forced three fumbles.

They have another big playmaker at linebacker in junior C.J. Malauulu (6-1, 235), who was named to the All-MAC second-team last year. He finished second on the team in tackles with 83, adding 3.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for a loss. Senior Luke Batton (5-11, 230) led Kent State with 102 tackles from the middle linebacker spot.  Named to the All-MAC third team, Batton also added 7 tackles for loss and blocked a field goal at Ohio University.

The secondary returns three of four starters including safeties Luke Wollet (6-0, 195) and Calvin Tiggle (5-9, 195).  Tiggle finished third on the team in tackles with 66, while Wollet led the team in interceptions with four.

On special teams, Adeyemi and Archer are very adept at returning kicks and punts. Senior PK Freddy Cortez is a very reliable kicker, who made 13 of 17 kicks, including a long of 49. Sophomore Anthony Horning is expected to win the punting job replacing Matt Rinehart, who averaged 42.8 yards per punt last season.