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

Nov 16, 2026, 12:28 pm

BATON ROUGE, La. -- — 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).

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