HAMMOND, La. – Costly turnovers and repeated breakdowns across the offensive line proved too much to overcome as Jacksonville State dropped its season-opening game for the second consecutive year.

Southeastern Louisiana (1-0) converted two Zerrick Cooper interceptions into touchdowns to stun the sixth-ranked Gamecocks 35-14 before an announced crowd of 7,116 at Strawberry Stadium Thursday night. It was the Lions' first victory over a Top 10 opponent since beating Sam Houston State in 2013.

Cooper threw for 414 yards – the fourth-highest total in school history – but was sacked six times and forced to scramble out of trouble on several other occasions. The junior quarterback completed 40-of-52 attempts (shattering the previous school mark of 32) with touchdown tosses of 33 yards to Josh Pearson and 28 yards to Michael Matthews to go along with the two picks.

"We had too many turnovers and missed assignments," said head coach John Grass, now 3-3 in season openers. "The team's still got a lot of potential but we're young in spots and have got to learn from this.

"When you turn the ball over you don't give yourself a chance to win. We have to take care of the football. We have to put this behind us and get ready for a good Chattanooga team."

Disaster struck on the Gamecocks' third offensive play of 2019 when SLU's Shawntrez Spates intercepted Cooper's short pass and returned it to the JSU 4. Devonte Williams scored on first down to give the Lions a 7-0 lead.

Southeastern Louisiana stretched its lead to 14-0 by driving 80 yards in nine plays on the next drive. Backup quarterback Cole Kelley, an Arkansas transfer, hit a wide-open Bransen Schwebel with a 5-yard jump pass with 7:06 left in the first.

The Lions went to the locker room with a 21-7 lead at halftime when Williams grabbed a swing pass, picked up a key block from Schwebel and raced 58 yards at the 1:16 mark.

A 65-yard interception return by Ferlando Jordan and a 35-yard TD pass from Kelley to Austin Mitchell extended Southeastern Louisiana's lead to 35-7 early in the fourth. JSU's final points came on an 80-yard drive capped off by Matthews' scoring reception with 8:50 left.

Zack Woodard had a career-best 10 tackles to lead Jacksonville State defensively, including two pass breakups. Darius Joiner contributed seven tackles, three of them solo.

The Gamecocks host Chattanooga (1-0) on Sept. 7, the first of seven regular-season games they will play at Burgess-Snow Field. The Mocs kicked off the season with a 24-10 home win over OVC member Eastern Illinois Thursday night.
 
Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – at Southeastern Louisiana
August 29, 2019 • Strawberry Stadium • Hammond, La.
 
•JSU Captains: senior safety Marlon Bridges, senior offensive lineman Darius Anderson, senior wide receiver Jamari Hester, senior defensive lineman Montrez Lang.
•Southeastern Louisiana won the toss and elected to defer.
•First-time starters on offense: OL Cam Hill, OL Ye'Majesty Sanders.
•First-time starters on defense: DE Tre' Threat, DE DJ Coleman, MLB Zack Woodard.
•It marked the first time JSU opened the season with a Thursday night road game. It was the Gamecocks' first Thursday game since Nov. 16, 2017 vs. Tennessee State at home and the first time JSU has opened the season on Thursday since hosting North Alabama on Sept. 1, 2016. JSU's last Thursday night road game came at UT Martin on Oct. 23, 2008.
•The Gamecocks are now 50-52-8 all-time in season openers and have lost back-to-back season openers for the first time since losing five in a row from 2005-09.
•JSU falls to 49-4 in regular season games against non-FBS opponents under John Grass.
•The Gamecocks fall to 6-5-1 in the all-time series against the Lions. This was the first meeting between the two since 1978 and the first meeting in Hammond since 1977.
•Zerrick Cooper's 33-yard touchdown pass to Josh Pearson in the second quarter was the 18th career touchdown catch for Pearson, tying Derrick Thomas (1982-85) for fourth on the school's career touchdown catches list.
•With his two touchdown passes in the game, Zerrick Cooper now has 34 in his career, ranking him seventh on JSU's career touchdown passes list. He is one away from Reggie Stancil for sixth.
•Zerrick Cooper's 40 completions broke his own school record for completions in a game. He held the record with 32 at Kennesaw State on Nov. 17, 2018.
•Zerrick Cooper's 52 pass attempts ties his career high and also ties himself (52 at Kennesaw State on Nov. 17, 2018) for the second-most in a game in school history.
•Zerrick Cooper's 414 passing yards in the game are the fourth-most in a game in school history and three shy of his career high of 417 set at Kennesaw State on Nov. 17, 2018.