Box Score

ABILENE, Texas – Special teams miscues cost McMurry 's chances to upset No. 5 Mary Hardin-Baylor and the Crusaders avoided a scare winning 43-31 in both teams' American Southwest Conference opener at Wilford Moore Stadium Saturday night.

UMHB recovered a fumble for a touchdown on the opening kickoff, recorded a safety on an errant snap by McMurry, blocked two field goals, blocked an extra point and returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to account for 16 points for UMHB and took away seven possible points for McMurry.

The Crusaders jumped out to a 22-0 lead at the end of the first quarter before McMurry scored three touchdowns in a span of 4:24 in the second quarter bring the scored to a respectable 22-19 UMHB lead headed into halftime.

McMurry took a lead for 15 seconds in the second half at 25-22. After sustaining a 2:20 scoring drive in the third quarter capped by Jake Mullin's 7-yard touchdown pass to Courte Gilbert to take the lead, McMurry allowed Darius Wilson to return the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. The Crusaders regained the lead after the extra point at 29-25 and never relinquished the lead again.

McMurry's last spark of hope came when Marcus Franklin caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Mullin to cut the lead from 43-31. Then, John Kowalski's onside kick landed perfectly into the hands of D.J. Baiza.

However, McMurry only made it to the Crusaders' 44-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. From there, UMHB was able to run out the clock.

Mullin broke his own school records for completions and passing yards with 39 and 498 respectively. Mullin has now thrown for at least five touchdown passes and 400 yards in each of his first three games. Mullin began the season with 118 pass attempts without an interception, however, his 119th and 46th attempt of the game was intercepted by Chad Morales, and he returned it four a 32-yard touchdown with 7:42 in the fourth quarter to make the score 43-25.

McMurry held Mary Hardin-Baylor to 240 yards of offense on defense. The last time the Crusaders were held under 240 yards of total offense was Dec. 13, 2008 in a playoff loss to Wisconsin-Whitewater when the team tallied 236 yards.

Quincy Daniels had 27 carries for 99 yards and a touchdown while LiDarral Bailey had 17 carries and 85 yards with each player scoring touchdowns. Bailey struggled passing at just 2 of 15 for 25 yards and an interception.

Desmond Baker and Baiza were big parts of the excellent pass defense Saturday night for McMurry with Baker's three pass breakups along with an interception and Baiza had two breakups.

Ricky Jimenez had 11 tackles, Corey Hall had 10, and Jimmy Terrell recorded seven with 3.5 tackles for a loss, a forced fumble and a sack. The UMHB defense tallied six sacks and eight tackles for a loss.

Franklin caught a career-high 11 passes for a career-high 185 yards along with his touchdown. R.J. Long caught four passes for 110 yards and two scores while Eric Shaffer grabbed seven passes for 82 yards and a score.

The Crusaders moved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the ASC while McMurry dropped to 2-1 and 0-1 in league play.