BATON ROUGE, La. – A 21-point second half swing by Texas Southern paved the way for the team's first win in Baton Rouge since 2010 over Southern on Saturday.
Southern struck first in the first quarter as Ashton Strother threw a 51-yard touchdown reception for a 7-0 lead following the PAT with 9:49 left. TSU would fight back as Roriyon Richardson caught a 57-yard reception to set up nine-yard touchdown pass from KJ Cooper to Trenton Leary. Christian Avelar's PAT knotted the score at 7-all at the 7:41 mark. Southern would use another big play to move ahead 14-7 as Dupree Fuller caught a short pass from Strother and raced 54 yards to the endzone.
Southern would add another touchdown after a 15-play, 95-yard drive midway through the second quarter. The Tigers would respond with a 13-play, 74-yard drive as the team used the run to get back into the game as Lawrence Butler ran it in from 12 yards with 2:02 left. Southern attempted to tack on more points as the half came to a close but Quinton Murray caught an interception at the SU 35. TSU managed to get within field goal range but Avelar's attempt from 47 yards was wide.
Both teams traded punts to open the second half but Southern put together a 14-play, 65-yard drive which was aided by several third-down conversions to move ahead 24-14 after a 26-yard field goal. Kerien Charlo's big kickoff return along with an SU penalty set TSU up well to begin its second drive of the quarter. Two plays into the drive, Kerien Charlo caught a big 43-yard pass from Cooper to move into scoring position and Lawrence Butler scored his second touchdown of the day to trail 24-21 entering the fourth quarter.
Avelar kicked the ensuing kickoff off an SU player's helmet as TSU recovered the ball at its own 43. TSU used the momentum to drive down the field as Cooper found a wide open Kordell Rodgers on third down in the endzone to move ahead 28-24 following the PAT with 10:37 left in the fourth quarter.
TSU's Charles George, Jr. would recover a big fumble by SU at the SU 25 on the opening play of SU's next drive and the Tiger offense made sure not waste the opportunity. Richardson would catch a big third down conversion to extend the drive as Cooper would connect with Jalen Williams on a 12-yard strike to extend the lead to 35-24 after the PAT.
Southern would answer with a touchdown on its next drive to draw within 35-30 but failed to convert the two-point conversion. TSU couldn't convert the first down which allowed SU to regain an opportunity to score but the Tiger defense held its ground to earn the team's first win in Baton Rouge in more than a decade.
TSU finished with 369 yards of offense as Cooper was 17-of-20 with 210 yards passing and two touchdowns. Butler ran for 65 yards on 14 carries with two touchdowns in his first significant action of the year while Richardson caught three passes for 66 yards. Edric Whitley, George, Jr. and Matthew Cooks all had eight tackles.
TSU is back in action next weekend as they'll host Alabama A&M at 2 p.m. for senior day and its 2025 season finale inside Shell Energy Stadium.
