CHICAGO – Senior quarterback Blainey Dowling (Chicago, Ill./Eastern Illinois/Mount Carmel) was named the Mid-States Football Association (MSFA) Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week for the Saint Xavier University football team (0-1, 0-0 MSFA Midwest) after his performance for the Cougars in their season-opening 38-31 loss to Taylor University (Ind.) in an MSFA crossover contest Saturday evening in Upland, Ind. He is the first SXU player to win MSFA Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week honors since quarterback Stuart Ross (2020-24) won the award three times in 2023, the last coming on November 13 of that season.

• Dowling threw for 449 yards on 34-for-64 passing with four touchdowns and three interceptions. He also had nine carries for 71 yards.
• His 449 passing yards are the most by a player for Saint Xavier in their first game with the team, and fifth-most in single-game team history. Dowling is the first quarterback for the Cougars to throw for over 400 yards in a game since former standout Alex Martinez (2016-19) threw for 432 yards at St. Ambrose University (Iowa) on November 2, 2019
• He trails SXU Hall of Famer and NAIA All-American Anthony Kropp (2007-10), who threw for 570 yards in an NAIA FCS Quarterfinal victory over University of Saint Francis (Ind.) on November 27, 2010, John Rhode (2013-16), who threw for 539 yards in an NAIA FCS First Round four overtime loss to Morningside University (Iowa) on November 21, 2015, Billy Yeo (2006-07), who had 498 passing yards vs. former NAIA program Urbana University (Ohio) on October 13, 2007, and a 470-yard throwing effort by Kropp vs. another former NAIA school, Quincy University (Ill.) on September 26, 2009.
• Dowling's 64 pass attempts set a new single-game team record, breaking Rhode's mark of 63 vs. Webber International University (Fla.) on September 19, 2015, and it is just the fourth time that a Saint Xavier quarterback has had 60 or more passing attempts in a game.

Saint Xavier (0-1/0-0 MSFA Midwest) plays NCAA Division III University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, ranked No. 12 in the NCAA D-III preseason polls, on Saturday, September 12 in Whitewater, Wis. The game is scheduled for a 1:00 pm kickoff at Perkins Stadium.