Saint Xavier University pre game SXU Athletics
Saint Xavier University’s (SXU) football team suffered a 70-14 loss to No. 6 Marian University (MU) on Saturday, Nov. 7.
This was a crushing defeat for a program that was riding a win streak into the back half of the year and had crawled back into playoff contention when none was in sight.
That turnaround is what the Cougars need to take away from this season and lean on heading into 2027. Head Coach Mike Femnis and his staff will look to right the ship under that same focus, climbing out of a lost season—much like their ascension from one win to five—and reestablishing themselves as contenders.
Even with the door shut on post-season play, the 2026 Cougars featured talent across the board that deserves recognition and provides encouragement for the future.
With one game left, against Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) on Nov. 14, SXU averages almost 27 points a game. The Cougars rely on the pass week after week, posting 296 yards per game, with 24 of their 34 touchdowns coming through the air.
Senior quarterback Blainey Dowling accounts for 26 of those touchdowns, with his arm and his legs. He has over 2,700 passing yards, third in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and his consistency in throwing 50-plus attempts while also taking a bulk of the carries is what makes SXU a threatening offensive unit.
On the ground, the Cougars have struggled all year, rotating a mix of backs depending on whose game translates best that week.
Outside of Dowling, multi-tool athlete Dominic D’Ambrosio is the only player with more than one rushing touchdown, with three, and he added a passing touchdown as well. Four ball carriers have 170 yards or more, but none have passed 300, which highlights the deficiency.
The receiving corps has been anything but a liability.
Freshman wide receiver Coen Demack is one of the NAIA’s most dynamic players. He sits at 974 yards, averaging 97 per game, which hints he will clear 1,000. He’s second in the NAIA with 82 receptions and has converted 11 into touchdowns. He looks like a pillar going forward, and his talents mesh with SXU’s pass-heavy, vertical attack.
Fellow freshmen have chipped in: wideout Jayden Armstrong has 412 yards and five touchdowns on 29 catches, and running back Antonio Benson has 246 yards and three touchdowns on 20 catches.
Senior Marco Price and redshirt junior Charles Campbell each have over 300 yards and two touchdowns. The offense has ebbed and flowed, but it has pieces to work with.
Defensively, it’s been better against weaker competition and poor against robust offenses. In years past, the defense was stifling, but this season it has struggled to stop the run and has been burned when teams air it out.
Captains Carter Wynn and Semaj Williams, both seniors, have combined for 25 tackles for loss (TFL), 11 sacks and 108 tackles with one game left.
Senior safety Owen Schickel leads the team with 82 tackles, five forced fumbles, four pass breakups and an interception, and senior cornerback Taj McClellan has 37 tackles, two forced fumbles and eight pass breakups.
Those are just a few names the defense, under coordinator Tyler Reinhardt, will look to build around after his system flourished in year one at SXU.
It wasn’t the season players, coaches or fans wanted, but that doesn’t mean a lack of continuity in the locker room.
Williams described playing at SXU as being with a group that is “tough, keeps fighting back, and sticks together…just competitors all around.”
Those words are what the staff and leaders will be looking to, because the difference between a failing program and a rebuilding one is belief from the players on the roster.
The Cougars still see themselves as contenders, and that mindset is what turns a rough stretch into a rebuild instead of a collapse.
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