I have a feeling this last season of Friday Night Lights is going to be good.

After beating a highly ranked team in a surprise upset last week, the East Dillon Lions had expected to earn some respect. They thought they’d get ranked, but instead their running back was suspended for a game after a major hit from the upset game was deemed illegal. It wasn’t. The team was right – “they” aren’t giving the Lions any respect and “they” are out to get them. 

Meanwhile, Vince started getting letters of intent from colleges. Big news! But this kid needs some guidance, ASAP. He accepted a meal from a local businessman and later used that football shine to get his mom a job. I’m a little worried that Vince will end up getting himself in a lot of trouble. Coach should be taking care of this! He knows that not only does Vince not have a dad, but he doesn’t have a mom who’s capable of keeping his feet on the ground. If anyone needs mentoring, it’s Vince. 

I haven’t been a huge Jess fan in the past, but I liked her this week. Her mix of feeling jealous of and disgusted by rally girls was priceless. She loves football, but that doesn’t mean she loves another girl leaving panties in her boyfriend’s locker. 

Onto Becky. Poor little Becky is one of my favorite new characters and I was a little worried that she’d be tossed out of the Riggins’s home by an inappropriately jealous Mindy. Instead she was lectured for staying out all night by a legitimately concerned Mindy, which was very sweet. It might be the first time I’ve ever actually liked Mindy. And the moment when Becky said she wasn’t used to anyone noticing if she stayed out late was touching. However, I am very concerned about the possibility of a romance with her former almost baby daddy Luke. He’s been kind of a douche so far this season, and since I was only lukewarm on him to begin with he’s got a long way to go before he’ll be good enough for Becky. I can only hope that Tim gets out of jail soon enough to stop that from happening. 

Julie’s first taste of college life hasn’t been so sweet. Her roommate is kind of a skank (and an inconsiderate one at that) and she’s having trouble making friends. The one “friend” she has made is a cute TA, and I’m not sure I love the path this storyline is going down. I thought Julie was at her best when she was friends with Tyra Collette, because it showed she could be fun and cute, and not just mopey and in love with Matt Saracen. I want Julie to make a fun college friend, not sleep with an older TA. 

Tami’s storyline has been pretty good so far – I don’t find it hard to believe that the other teachers don’t want to volunteer for after-school tutoring sessions, although I don’t see how anyone could resist liking Mrs. Coach. By the end of the episode though, it looked like one teacher felt guilty enough to sort of be her friend (she needs a new Glenn), so that’s something. And it looks like she’s made some headway with her new project, a troubled student named Epic. 

The tone of the season was set up at the end of the episode when Coach, who finally realized that his team was being treated unfairly, wrote “State” on the erase board right before the big first game. With the college letters and the rally girls and the actual fans, Coach Taylor has an actual football team on his hands now, and he wants to prove it to the rest of Texas.