The football game of impact this week is Oregon at Arizona State on Thursday night. That's for some people. The big game in Dennis Erickson's life will be South Albany at Woodburn.

That's in Oregon, where the former Seahawks coach hangs out a lot these days, helping his son Bryce coach high-school football at South Albany.

"It's been a lot of fun," Erickson said over the phone this week. "When you've been doing it 40-some years, it's kind of hard to turn it off."

So, 25 years after he coached Timm Rosenbach at Washington State; 20 years after he had Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta at Miami; 15 years after his quarterback was Warren Moon with the Seahawks ... and 11 months after he got fired at Arizona State, Erickson is back coaching offense again.

There's not a lot of media around, not a lot of boosters to appease.

"It's the purest part of coaching, to be honest with you," Erickson said. "I've enjoyed it."

While South Albany, a downtrodden program, is fighting through a 2-5 season, the talent Erickson and his staff helped assemble at Arizona State has helped the Sun Devils to a surprising 5-1 record.

After all these years, Erickson, 65, has a thick hide. He's realistic, even charitable, about his dismissal in Tempe. But still, it has to tug at him a little, seeing Todd Graham stress discipline and pull it all together, the year after Erickson seemed so close.

"He's taken that team and done a good job of doing what they do best," Erickson said. "He's done a heck of a job coaching."

Some of us were lulled by ASU's five-game fade at the end of last year and minimized what was on hand there. Erickson knew about defensive tackle Will Sutton, who leads the nation with 8 sacks. He knew about the quarterback, Taylor Kelly, and he knew defensive end Junior Onyeali suspended after a dustup with Erickson late last year could play.

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Dennis Erickson still coaching — at South Albany High School in Oregon