PULLMAN, Wash. — Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson was knocked down and briefly out when one of his players ran into him in the third quarter. The veteran coach was woozy, but stayed on the sidelines as Arizona State beat Washington State 27-14.

"They knocked me colder than a cucumber," Erickson said after the game. "I was down and out."

"A lot of people here would like to hit me," Erickson joked, pointing to lingering bad feelings over his bolting Washington State after two years in 1988. "They didn't have to put a hit out on me."

Erickson was clobbered when receiver Gerell Robinson was knocked out of bounds into him. He never considered coming out.

"I wasn't going no place," Erickson said.