It's been a while since that episode, but if I recall correctly the girl with Smash has a brother (or relative) who got recruited by the big schools. I think her brother had received additional "perks" outside of the scholarship, and Smash wanted some of the action. His Mom on the other had wanted him to attend a school which stressed academics instead of atheletics, due to her fear of Smash getting injured. In particular, I remember her wanting Smash to take attend a school with a medicore football program, but a rich african-american academic pedigree.

So the minute Street decides he doesn't want to coach football, he's more or less off the show now. I guess there's not a whole lot left tying him to the show.

Does that mean the minute Smash goes down with a serious injury, she's gonna pull a whipcream bikini on Matt?

Thanks for reminding me (I caught up on a missed Heroes episode this way last season). The show itself has a reminder at the end, too, I believe.

Incidentally, have they dropped the 'Halftime' recap of the show at 9:30 (EST) for those who come in late (or have ADD)? I can't remember any other shows doing this and noticed that it didn't seem to be there last episode. We sort of joked about it & said that they needed to have a second recap at the end of the show to remind those with short-term memory loss about what they had just viewed.

Maybe some referee can enlighten us as to what would actually have happened had the Coach incident taken place in a real game. Can the officials make a ruling base upon what seemed to be the likely outcome (that Dillon would have scored)? Or would they simply assess a penalty such as 15 yards from the point of the foul or half the distance to the goal or something like that? I mean, when defensive pass interference is called in the end zone, they don't just automatically award a TD. Also, although it's likely that Dillon would have scored (once again!) on the sweep, stranger things have happened in real life. Riggins could have stumbled & fallen or even fumbled the ball (this happened to a local school who lost a state championship when a running back created his own fumble right before he crossed the goal line for the winning score...he was untouched by the other team, but his knee came up & knocked the ball loose and it was recovered by the other team).

**Edit** Just read Red Dog's post re: the automatic TD ruling. I'm confident that Red Dog has officiating experience or the ol' rule book open, so that answers my question about the reality of the scenario as it played out on tv.

So, are we to assume the entire Larribee student body was attending class at Dillon until their school was repaired? I had thought they were just using the football facilities but we saw them more than a few times (in the cafeteria and the hallway) during school hours. Also, couldn't Larribee just use their middle schools field? Actually, couldn't they use the local park? That whole situation was so unbelievable for me that it took away from the show.

I got a good drinking game. Everytime coach says "let me tell you something" you take a drink.

I can't speak to HS or college, but that is the NFL rule, so I assume it is the same.

http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/penaltysummaries

Maybe best to reference the 1954 Cotton Bowl when Tommy Lewis from Alabama came off the bench to tackle Dickey Maegle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Maegle). Result was an awarded TD for Rice. Lots of Bama in this episode. I did notice the Tide recruiter said Bama had 8 National Titles. It's 12. Spare me the discussion of legit/non-legit, but I would think any recruiter would certainly use the correct University published number. I half-expected him to follow that up with talk about the RED Tide rolling or talk about Paul "Moose" Bryant or something.

Interesting football question: I knew about the automatic TD for outside interference, but I have no idea what happens with the clock. In a situation where the player is clearly going to score a TD, can you tackle the guy from off the field just to get a few precious seconds to have a final drive? I'm sure it'd be universally frowned upon, just wondering.

The weird thing about the Smash/TMU decision, was that I thought the moral of the story was to wait it out, not make a rash decision, and talk it over with mom. Instead, Smash just (verbally) commits without reading the fine print, making a rash, emotional decision. Maybe this comes back to bite him later in the show, but it seems like it resulted in a happy ending.

I also thought that Smash's gfriend was latching onto him and secretly wanted to recruit him somewhere specific, but she didn't seem to mind that he committed to TMU.

I have no problem with them jettisoning some of the extra characters, or even focusing on a few characters at a time.... that's much better than trying to fit everyone in and having the main plots go at a snail's pace. It's probably cheaper for them too, to not have every one of the main cast in every episode... I believe they did this with shows like Veronica Mars in the past too.

I also liked that they wrapped up the Coach vs. Riggins thing within one episode... I thought that would drag on for a while longer.

It is indeed a catch-22. I, for one, would re-watch S1 on DVD in a heartbeat. Doubt I'll buy this season...

You may recall that Taylor was on the coaching staff there just a little while ago, right? I think he's got a genuinely decent insider perspective to counsel Smash in that manner.

Well that is an awful lot of equipment to lug around to a local park, not to mention the additional training equipment on the field (unlikely there's a second set of all that kicking around Dillon).

[QUOTE=rfduncan]I guess I'm OK with them using the facilities but is Dillon one of those rare high schools where they are half full and could accept the entire Larribee high school to attend class there as well? Or is it only football players that are attending class at Dillon? It's just a lazy premise to create conflict.

** DON'T CARE**
** DON'T CARE**
** DON'T CARE**

Lyla & Street should have never been back this season. They graduated(should have in Lyla's case) and moved on to college. Both Lyla and Riggin's should have been out of there. It was set up that Street & Riggins were the same age without explicitly saying so. It was just too convenient to ignore and slide by, and bring them back. Riggin's has turned into a decent character though so he gets a pass.

[QUOTE=BDLOU]I would assume they split up the students but keep the team based groups together for practice purposes. So send the football team to one school, soccer and field hockey to another, etc. and split up the remaining students. Plus we've only really seen football players and maybe some cheerleaders in the school.

He was always a dick. He doesn't get a pass because of a phone call about his wife. Maybe a moments reprieve from Taylor, but he shouldn't coach another day in his life. He was wrong for what he did and if he felt he wasn't in the right mindset to coach he should have stepped aside and let the assistant step in.

The only problem I had with the episode was the drug money. That to me was lazy writing and will, no doubt, provide a moronic side plot for another episode or two. UNLESS, after the pep-talk with Coach praising Tim for being so honest and trustworthy, he decides to return the money. That's the only reasonable ending to that story I want to see.

I tend to agree with you.

It was, but I think the writers should avoid the scenario like the plague. That drug dude seemed to have so many people wandering around his house all drunk and/or drug addled that I would believe he never figures out it was Riggins who took the money - probably wont realize it is gone for a while afterward. I'd buy that bit of story never returning... along with Jason Street.

Maybe the drug dealer will kill off Riggins. Good way to start getting rid of the seniors, I suppose.

Regarding the drug dealer, maybe Julie will get messed up on drugs at a party & Riggins will rescue her & take her home and put her in bed & Eric will come in & catch them &.....

Wait a minute.

Incidentally, I loved Lunatikk's suggestion for getting rid of the seniors. Then Eric can resurrect the program & the series can be retitled, "We Are Dillon!" (Apologies to Thundering Herd fans...not making light of the real-life tragedy, just Hollywood marketing schemes).

For Street fans, maybe he can return as a drug-dealing pimp...after all, he's got the perfect pimp name. And Lyla can be his top girl.

If Buddy weren't Lyla's dad, he could be Street's top john (especially since Mrs. Garrity has declined his offer to reconcile).

Just floating some alternative plots out there since it doesn't seem like anything is off the table for this season.

Mike, that side plot is REAL easy to spot:

Dealer commits crime
Uses gun
Ditches gun
Police find gun
Dust gun for prints
Find Riggs prints
Made up story about how Riggs was arrested for something stupid like being drunk and printed so they were on file
Riggs arrested
Charged with crime
Kept in jail
Lyla visits him
They somehow kiss
Lyla vows to fight for him
Miraculously finds exculpatory evidence
Riggs is released at halftime of must win Panther game
Panthers come from behind
Riggs is hero
Street still angry about not playing quad rugby.

Ooh, definitely a two-parter!