ABILENE - On paper, it stacks up like a blowout. On the field, it might not be that close.

Third-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor hopes to do the one thing it couldn’t do last week - stay healthy - when it takes on McMurry at 6 p.m. today at Wilford Moore Stadium.

The last seven meetings between the teams haven’t been close. The Crusaders (2-0, 1-0 American Southwest Conference) have won all seven by a combined score of 386-76. McMurry (0-3, 0-1) hasn’t beaten UMHB since 1999.

It will be the Crusaders’ first road game and their first since preseason All-American running back Quincy Daniels was lost to a knee injury in last week’s 63-7 rout of Texas Lutheran.

With its annual rivalry showdown against No. 12 Hardin-Simmons looming next week, UMHB can not afford another injured star.

Sophomore Matt Hurst - who ran for 184 yards and four touchdowns after Daniels went down last week - will make his first collegiate start, and Crusaders coach Pete Fredenburg doesn’t expect much of a drop off.

“It’s really an unfortunate deal for Quincy because he’s such an incredible person,” Fredenburg said. “But I don’t think our offense will change.

“It’s good that we’ve moved in the direction that we have with our offense, opening it up some. Matt and (Roger Sanchez) are very capable backs. They just don’t have the explosiveness that Quincy has.”

To say UMHB has been explosive against McMurry in the past is an understatement. The Crusaders chalked up wins of 59-7 in 2002, 63-6 in ’03, 73-23 in ’04, 72-0 in ’05 and 61-19 last year.

Tonight’s game could be another blowout judging by these statistics:

n McMurry averages 13 per points per game. UMHB averages 46.5.

n McMurry is giving up 37.7 points per outing. UMHB is yielding just seven.

n McMurry’s defense allowed an average of 398 yards in games against teams with a combined record of 4-4. Unbeaten UMHB averages 480 yards per game.

The Crusaders dominated their first two games, but Fredenburg wants to see an even better performance tonight.

“I think our defense could play a whole lot better,” he said. “I think our offense took a step forward last week. I don’t know that our defense did.”

UMHB’s primary concern will be containing McMurry quarterback Taylor Penn - who has passed for 540 yards and three touchdowns but has thrown six interceptions - and running back Evan Hearn, who averages 67 yards per game.

“McMurry runs the spread - it’s kind of the universal offense - and they want to get the ball on the perimeter,” Fredenburg said. “What I didn’t like last week was the number of big plays we gave up on defense. We have to eliminate those types of plays.”

Offensively, Fredenburg would like to see the Crusaders complete more passes than they did in their 4-of-9 aerial effort last week - even though they threw for 121 yards.

“The thing that I wasn’t happy with in the passing game was the number of completions,” he said. “I don’t want us to have to rely on the long pass. I want us to be able to work some intermediate routes consistently.”

Notes: McMurry, whose athletic teams were formerly known as the Indians, does not have a mascot or nickname. . . . UMHB will have two new starters along its offensive line in senior guard Clayton McCorkle and senior tackle Luke Long. Junior Marco Coppola will start at defensive end.