TOLEDO, Ohio — Ron Cooper's final game as a Mid-American Conference head coach came with Eastern Michigan in a victory against Toledo three decades ago.

On Thursday night, Cooper was back coaching against the Rockets, this time in his debut at the helm of the LIU football team.

Cooper's defense proved formidable in the season debut, but the Sharks ultimately fell to Toledo, 37-0, on Thursday night at the Glass Bowl.

LIU limited Toledo to a pair of field goals until Jamal Turner got behind the defense on a broken play and caught a 69-yard touchdown pass from Dequan Finn with 5:22 remaining in the second quarter. The Rockets built a 20-0 lead by halftime, then were held scoreless in the third quarter.

Safety Victor Nelson Jr. had a pair of highlight-reel defensive plays in the third quarter for LIU — swatting away a would-be touchdown pass and recording an interception. Rudy Silvera (11), Antwan Spencer (9), Tariq Snead (9) and Twan Massie (7) led LIU in tackles for the game.

"They played hard. We had some guys do some pretty good things," Cooper said. "We tackled well early. We gave up a couple of big plays that sort of broke our back."

The assignment clearly was a challenge. An FCS team defeated an FBS opponent only a dozen times nationwide last season. In 2019, that feat happened only three times.

Graduate transfer Derek Green started at quarterback for the Sharks. He was 7-for-16 for 32 yards and one interception. True freshman Luca Stanzani entered for the second half, trying to stimulate the offense. He went 7-for-10 for 36 yards. Fellow true freshman Maurice Smith handled the final possession.  LIU produced 113 yards of total offense in the game.

Australian punter Will Lynch made his collegiate debut, punting 10 times and averaging 39.8 yards.

Cooper lamented the field position, partly because of execution on punt returns, that put the offense in unenviable field position against a solid Toledo defensive front.

"They have four to eight defensive linemen who can play anywhere," Cooper said. "That didn't surprise us."

The Sharks next host Villanova on Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. at Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium.

"We're going to be good," Cooper said. "We've just got to get better each week. We've got to keep practicing and keep them motivated and find out who is going to step in to lead our offense. I wanted to see all three quarterbacks play tonight and I saw all three play. We'll just keep doing it until we find the right one."