It's easy to forget how close Drinkwitz was to not coming to fruition.

From a Ben Fredrickson column two days ago...

. Remember Blake Anderson?

In case Mizzou needed another reminder that it hired the right football coach in Eli Drinkwitz, here's one.

The coach Mizzou athletics director Jim Sterk was circling in on before the curators called an unofficial intervention — a wild story recapped here with new reporting by P-D teammate Dave Matter — was . . . do you even remember?

It was Arkansas State coach Blake Anderson.

I bring it up because Blake Anderson just got hired . . . by Utah State.

With all due respect to Utah State, SEC programs should not be hiring coaches who are hired by Utah State. (Just like Vanderbilt should not be hiring a coach from the XFL. Sorry, Jonathan Hayes.)

The truth about Anderson is some at Arkansas State were excited to see him take the Utah State job, considering Arkansas State's knack for recruiting up-and-coming coaches, and the fact Anderson was in the midst of a COVID-ravaged 4-7 season.

Meanwhile Drinkwitz has defied the pandemic to blast through expectations in year one. He has the Tigers at No. 25 in the College Football Playoff ranking with five wins in their last six games entering Saturday's home game against No. 9 (CFP) Georgia.

Credit to the curators for raising heck, and credit to Sterk for adjusting on the fly.

This post was edited on 12/12/20 at 6:02 am