BALTIMORE – The University of Maine established several school records Saturday, including 685 yards of total offense, piling up 11 touchdowns on its way to a resounding 77-24 nonconference football victory over Morgan State at Hughes Stadium.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s Black Bears improved to 6-4, bouncing back from a devastating loss at Delaware a week earlier with one of the most impressive offensive performances in school history.

The 77 points were the most ever in the modern era by a UMaine team and second only to the 97 scored in a 1927 game against Fort Williams. The 11 PAT kicks by Mike Mellow set a UMaine all-time standard.

UMaine did not punt, going 7-for-11 on third down.

UMaine plays its final home game of the season Saturday at 3 p.m. against Villanova.

The Black Bears kept the host Bears (5-5) guessing, averaging almost 10 yards per play in the contest. UMaine amassed 350 rushing yards behind junior tailback Marcus Williams.

Williams carried 21 times for a career-high 246 yards and four TDs. In doing so, he improved his season rushing total to 1,168 yards and becomes the first UMaine running back to post two 1,000-yard rushing seasons.

Williams improved his career total to 2,747 yards, moving past Doug Dorsey (1985-88) into fourth place on the school’s career rushing list.

UMaine also was superb through the air against Morgan State. Freshman quarterback Ron Whitcomb made good on 13 of 21 passes while rolling up a career-best 319 yards and three scores.

Wide receivers Christian Pereira (5 catches, 124 yards, 2 TDs) and Kevin McMahan (4 catches, 117 yds.) led the way on the receiving end.

Freshman Arel Gordon also put his name in the UMaine record book, becoming the first player to return a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown in the same game. Gordon returned a punt 75 yards for the Black Bears’ first touchdown, then raced 100-plus yards with a kickoff late in the second quarter.

The 100-yard return was the longest in school history.

On defense, UMaine surrendered a season-high 397 yards, including 274 through the air. But the Black Bears shut out the Bears over the final 32:44.

Safety Brandon McGowan came up with an interception and a fumble recovery. Cornerback Manauris Arias registered nine tackles, all unassisted, while strong safety Clinton Brown had seven tackles.

After Gordon staked his team to a 7-0 lead with the punt return, UMaine scored on its first two offensive plays of the contest. Both were Whitcomb passes to Pereira, a 65-yarder at the 10:09 mark and a 31-yarder only 47 seconds later.

Pereira’s nine TD receptions lead the team.

Whitcomb’s 19-yard scoring toss to Waller late in the quarter made it 28-0, then Williams capped a drive with a 13-yard TD run early in the second as the Black Bears went up by five touchdowns.

Morgan State answered with 17 unanswered second-quarter points during a span of seven minutes, including a 37-yard interception return for a score by Larry Davis. That snapped Whitcomb’s streak of consecutive passes without an interception at 124.

But UMaine sandwiched a Williams 1-yard run and Gordon’s sparkling kickoff return TD around a 69-yard scoring pass by Brad Littlejohn (15-for-30, 232 yds., 3 TDs; 12 carries, 109 yds.) to make it 49-24 at halftime.

UMaine added four rushing touchdowns, two by Williams, in the second half to complete the blowout.

BLACK BEARS 77, BEARS 24

Maine (6-4) 28 21 7 21 ? 77

Morgan State (5-5) 0 24 0 0 ? 24

UM ? Gordon 75 punt return (Mellow kick)

UM ? Pereira 65 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

UM ? Pereira 31 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

UM ? Ry. Waller 19 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

UM ? Williams 13 run (Mellow kick)

MS ? Voroshilin 39 field goal

MS ? Cash 14 pass from Littlejohn (Voroshilin kick)

MS ? Davis 37 interception return (Voroshilin kick)

UM ? Williams 1 run (Mellow kick)

MS ? Dickens 69 pass from Littlejohn (Voroshilin kick)

UM ? Gordon 100 kickoff return (Mellow kick)

UM ? Williams 12 run (Mellow kick)

UM ? Williams 21 run (Mellow kick)

UM ? Owens 2 run (Mellow kick)

UM ? Momah 5 run (Mellow kick)

Maine Morgan St.

First downs 28 20

Rushing att.-yards 44-350 29-123

Passing comp.-att. 15-24 22-45

Passing yards 335 274

Total yards 685 397

Punts-avg. 0-0 5-40.2

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2

Intercepted by 1 1

Penalties-yards 4-43 6-94

Rushing

Maine: Williams 21-246, Legree 1-48, Momah 9-39, Owens 7-21, Zyskowski 1-3, Whitcomb 4-(minus 3), Nwosu 1-(minus 4); Morgan State: Littlejohn 12-109, Washington 9-19, Nelson 2-(minus 1), DeShazo 5-(minus 2), Campbell 1-(minus 2)

Passing

Maine: Whitcomb 13-21-1-319, Meczywor 2-3-0-16; Morgan State: Littlejohn 15-30-1-232, Washington 7-15-0-42

Receiving

Maine: Pereira 5-124, McMahan 4-117, Ry. Waller 2-36, Fusco 1-30, Gordon 1-13, Williams 1-12, Nwosu 1-3; Morgan State: Dickens 7-150, Manus 6-52, Cash 5-56, Henson 3-16, Napper 1-0

A?2,176