EWU ranked No. 1

Eastern Washington is again the No. 1 team in the land. Two days after their 27-24 win at Montana State, the Eagles moved up five spots Monday to seize the No. 1 spot in The Sports Network FCS poll. “It’s exciting, just because for a program and for us to be ranked No. 1, that takes a lot of work from a lot of people,” Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin said Monday morning. The Eagles finished the 2010 season with the national championship and a top ranking that carried over to the first two weeks of 2011, but lost the top spot last September. Ranked sixth last week, they regained the No. 1 ranking with their 27-24 win over the second-ranked Bobcats while four teams ranked ahead of them fell last weekend. Eastern Washington is 4-0 in the Big Sky Conference and 5-1 overall entering a home game Saturday against Sacramento State. The Eagles won 92 first-place votes and 3,982 overall in The Sports Network media poll, outdistancing Madison, which moved up two spots from fourth. The Dukes received 42 first-place votes and 3,831 overall. Montana State fell to fifth, while Big Sky member Cal Poly moved up to 14th while receiving three first-place votes.