Eastern Upset ‘Honorable’ Eagles Ogden, Leons Lauded For Helping Bring Down Griz

Talk about a tough crowd.

Officials in the Big Sky Conference office, who select the league’s players of the week, demand quite a bit from the football players they see fit to honor.

And probably no one can speak to that fact better than Eastern Washington wide receiver Jeff Ogden, who caught six passes for a career-high 217 yards and three touchdowns in the Eagles’ 40-35 upset of No. 2 ranked Montana Saturday in Missoula.

Ogden, a 6-foot, 187-pound senior, turned in the third-most productive receiving day in his school’s history, and was rewarded for his efforts by being named ESPN/USA Today’s Division I-AA national player of the week.

In the opinion of the top brass at Big Sky headquarters in Ogden, Utah, however, he wasn’t even the best player in his own league Saturday. Or on his own team, for that matter.

Ogden’s teammate, senior quarterback Harry Leons, was named the Big Sky’s offensive player of the week. And it’s hard to argue his selection, considering the 6-foot-2, 211-pounder riddled Montana for a career0high 424 yards the third-highest single-game passing total in EWU history and four touchdowns.

Eagles coach Mike Kramer had no problem with either pick.

“Hey, a receiver can only run with it once he catches it,” Kramer said Monday afternoon shortly after addressing a standing-room-only record crowd at his weekly booster luncheon in Spokane. “The ball has to get to him, so let the guy who delivered it get the local notoriety. (Ogden) can live with the national stuff.”

The victory also moved the Eagles (6-1 overall, 4-1 Big Sky) up in every national I-AA poll. They will enter Saturday’s 12:35 p.m. homecoming matchup against Idaho State ranked No. 11, up from No. 17, in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25; No. 12 in the Sports Network poll; and No. 6 by Don Hansen’s Football Gazette.

Montana (4-2, 2-1) slipped to No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today ratings, No. 6 in the Sports Network poll and No. 12 in The Football Gazette ratings.

Idaho State’s Trevor Bell, who had two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and returned a punt 53 yards for a TD in the Bengals’ first win, 46-31 over Southern Utah, and James Ferrell, who broke two school records by hitting five field goals and scoring 18 kicking points, are the Big Sky defensive and special teams players of the week, respectively.

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