Cal Preps For Home Opener vs. Texas Southern

Cal makes its home debut Saturday afternoon against a Texas Southern team that never has beaten an FBS school and comes off a heartbreaking, 22-21 loss to SWAC rival Prairie View A&M.

“Our guys played their butts off,” TSU second-year coach Cris Dishman told the Houston Chronicle. “We had a chance to win it. It didn’t go our way. Our season is not over.”

The Bears, who beat Oregon State 34-15 in the opener at Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday night, have never lost to an FCS-level opponent. Kickoff Saturday is 3 p.m.

The Tigers have struggled to compete with FBS competition, typically playing one larger school each season. They lost 69-7 at Rice last season and 71-3 to Toledo in 2023. In their past 10 matchups vs. FBS foes, they have been outscored by an average of 52-14.

While they have not posted a winning season since 2000, they will arrive in Berkeley accompanied by the Ocean of Soul, the school’s 200-piece marching band. 

Texas Southern’s season got off to a rough start with a last-second home defeat in the 40th Labor Day Classic on Saturday night. The opening kickoff was delayed 90 minutes by a lightning storm and the game didn’t end until 11:55 p.m.

The Tigers took a 21-16 lead with 1:16 left when quarterback KJ Cooper connected with wide receiver Roriyon Richardson for a 15-yard touchdown.

Prairie View assembled a 10-play, 88-yard scoring drive, aided by a 45-yard pass completion from Cameron Peters to Rodny Ojo and a pair of pass interference penalties. Peters threw 17 yards to Ojo for the winning touchdown as time expired.

“Losing in general hurts,” Cooper said. “We’re going to learn from it. The season is not over. We will continue to keep working every single day. There’s always something to improve on.

“When we get that opportunity, we got to seize it. We have to continue to fight and finish.”

Cooper, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound redshirt junior from El Paso, finished the game 12 for 21 for 132 yards without an interception. He also ran for 31 yards and a touchdown. 

Ultimately, the outcome was as disappointing as the year before against Prairie View, when Cooper suffered a season-ending lower-leg injury.

TSU quarterbacks coach Zerick Rollins told the Houston Defender he expects Cooper to be a better player this season.

“I hated losing him after that one game last year,” Rollins said. “But I think him sitting back and watching from a coach’s perspective kind of helped raise his game, as well, and also kind of raised the level of hunger for him to prove, `I’m not just a one-game guy, I can take this team to the promised land.’ ” 

Cooper, who came to Texas Southern a year ago from Minnesota State Community & Technical College, has high hopes for this season.

“My mentality is just to be the best quarterback and best leader that I can be for my team and try to be the best quarterback in the country,” he told the Defender.

The Tigers showed prowess on kickoff returns on Saturday with Kerlen Charlo returning one 76 yards and Trenton Leary bringing two more back for 62 yards.

But the Tigers were outgained 453 yards to 267 and had possession for less than 22 minutes. 

Dishman, who led TSU to a 5-6 record in his debut season last year, is a former 18-year NFL player with four teams. He was two-time Pro Bowl selection and first-team All-Pro cornerback in 1991 with the Houston Oilers.

Since his playing days, Dishman, 60, has served as a defensive assistant coach in the NFL, NFL Europe, the Canadian Football League, USFL, XFL, the IMG Academy, Baylor University and for three seasons early in his career at Menlo College in the Bay Area.