Cooper’s 3 TDs helps Texas Southern to 35-30 comeback win over Southern

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — KJ Cooper threw for 210 yards and three touchdowns and Texas Southern rallied then held off Southern for a 35-30 win on Saturday.

Cam’Ron McCoy ended an eight-play, 64-yard drive with a 5-yard scoring run with 3:10 remaining to get Southern within the final score.

The Jaguars forced Texas Southern (5-5, 4-3 Southwestern Athletic Conference) to punt after close to three minutes, but with just seconds remaining the Jaguars’ offense ran out of time.

Southern led 24-14 before the Tigers staged their comeback. Lawrence Butler ran it in from the 2 to reduce the deficit to 24-21. On the following kickoff, Texas Southern recovered a Southern fumble to take possession.

That led to an eight-play, 57-yard drive that ended with Cooper throwing a 3-yard touchdown to Kordell Rodgers for a 28-24 margin. With 7:43 left, Cooper threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Williams for an 11-point lead.

Ashton Strother threw for 191 yards and two touchdowns and Barry Remo ran for 120 yards on 24 carries for Southern (1-10, 0-7).

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up