Dennis Erickson has taken four different schools to the Top 25 - second-most of any coach in college football history.

Two of those teams will square off Saturday when Erickson and 18th-ranked Arizona State visit Washington State - the first squad he ever led to a national ranking.

After just five games at the helm, Erickson has helped the Sun Devils (5-0, 2-0 Pac-10) achieve their highest ranking in two years. They were No. 17 on Oct. 2, 2005, but went 11-9 in their next 20 games - including 7-8 against Pac-10 opponents - before hiring Erickson in December.

Arizona State is the sixth different stop for Erickson, who coached four seasons at Idaho and one at Wyoming before taking over Washington State in 1987. The Cougars were 3-7-1 in Erickson's first year, but finished 16th in the nation with a 9-3 record the following season.

Erickson then moved on to Miami, where he won national championships in 1989 and 1991. Oregon State was ranked as high as No. 4 in Erickson's four-year tenure there from 1999-2002.

After returning to Idaho for one season, Erickson moved to Tempe, where he has made a good impression in his first month. The Sun Devils have a chance to improve to 6-0 for the first time since 1996, when they finished the regular season undefeated en route to a Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State.

They remained undefeated last Saturday by snapping a 14-game road losing streak against Pac-10 teams in California with a 41-3 victory over Stanford. Rudy Carpenter completed 20 of 27 passes for 259 yards, including a 62-yard touchdown pass to Rudy Burgess - who set a career high with 137 receiving yards.

"With the new coaching staff I think we're all still trying to figure each other out and get a feel for what we do," said Carpenter, who had 339 yards in a 47-14 win over Washington State in 2006. "But as every week goes on and we keep on winning, I think guys are getting confidence and getting some swagger, which are all important for us to keep winning games. It's just exciting for us."

Arizona State allowed only 235 yards of total offense last week, the third time this season it has held opponents to fewer than 250.

"Mentally we're playing a lot better," Erickson said. "We're not making near the mistakes that we made early in the year, coverage-wise and gaps and things like that. The longer we play this defense, the better we get."

While Arizona State has looked good early, it has done so in part because of a relatively weak schedule. Four of the Sun Devils ' five wins have come at home, and only one of their first five opponents - Colorado - has defeated a team from a Bowl Championship Series conference.

"Obviously, for this football team, every week is a new week," Erickson said. "We just have to continue to improve and get better. Our schedule gets harder and harder as we get into it."

That begins with the Cougars (2-3, 0-2), who have scored 45 points in each of their two previous home games - both wins.

"It's a good place to play when you're the coach at Washington State," Erickson said of Pullman, "and it's not a good place to play when you're not, so I've been on both sides."

Washington State, though, has lost its first two conference games by a combined 95-34. The Cougars gave up 567 yards in a 48-20 loss to Arizona last Saturday - the most they've allowed since Oct. 29, 2005.

For the Cougars to bounce back, they'll again turn to Alex Brink , who threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns last week. Brink, who is tied for the Pac-10 lead with 15 TD passes, had only 161 yards against the Sun Devils last year - his lowest total in conference play.

This year's Sun Devils have allowed a conference-low 197.6 passing yards per game.

Arizona State has won its last three games against Washington State to improve to 19-12-2 in the series. Washington State lost both of its meetings with Arizona State when Erickson coached the Cougars.