I was just thinking about the McCoy family and the impact they will have on the people of Dillon. I can't get over the dad. Telling Eric to move Matt out of the way and let his 9th grade son take over. I have a problem with that. For one thing, there is a lot of difference between a 9th grader and a 12th grader. No matter how gifted and talented they are they still don't think the way a 12th grader thinks. It is called being mature. I don't see a ninth grader being able to out think a 12th grader on the field when and where it counts. Oh, I am talking about your average to above average kid. I am not lookiing at apples compared to grapes (LOL)! I know that there some very mature 9th graders and some very silly 12th graders.

Saracacen all the way man. This kid help win a State Championship. And they've scored two forty-burgers in the first two games of the 2008 season.

No need for Mcoy to play at all. He's got like the next 3 years after Saracen is gone.

I agree with both of you!

A 9th grader has plenty of time to show his stuff. Matt is experienced and has helped the team win State Championships. That would not be cool if he was pushed out of his position because a snot-nosed kid was showing him up. I hope Eric doesn't allow this to happen. Poor Matt can't cut a break lately!

You could make the argument there is a very big reason for McCoy to play at all; exactly because Saracen will be gone next year.

When your quarterback is a senior, you always want to get the next guy as many reps in practice and in games as you possibly can. Game experience in particular is very valuable.

And if next year's guy is an outrageously talented phenom like this kid is supposed to be, you definitely want to get him on the field, especially when the game is well in hand as the first two have been.

I know Matt's experience is important, and his knowledge gives him an edge. For now. But as the new kid gets more reps in practice and learns the play, any coach would be looking for every opportunity to get him in a game. As long as the kids does not hurt you, and sad as it is, coaches will always go with a talented young player over a senior with more limited abilities. You are always building for the future. Tough, but very true in high school and college sports, at least where I live.

You absolutely start your Senior at QB no matter how talented your Freshman phenom might be. JD has all the tools and can throw a perfect spiral from Dillon to Dallas but hardly has the experience to call an audible, read defenses, and check into proper protection when a blitz is coming. But, when you have the game in hand like Dillon has the in the 1st two games, you get your Freshman and other backups some PT in the 4th quarter. As a coach, you certainly want to avoid any unneccessary injuries to your playmakers like what happened to Boobie Miles in the movie and to get some valuable experience for your underclassmen.

Well, this point would be especially relevant if this were not a show that had freshmen, sophomores, and a junior lead them to a state title in season 1. I still don't know what Matt was on the varsity, and not the JV team in season 1 before Jason got hurt. By the way, has anyone seen the JV team ever??

They presented the team as a normal group of seniors and juniors, but when the show got picked up again, they just decided to ignore any sense of reality so they could keep the main characters in high school.

But, back to the point. Within the internal logic of FNL, it does not appear that grade level has any impact on performance, in spite of what reality has demonstrated.

But that's exactly why they had a scene last episode with Coach Taylor grilling JD with different scenarios that could happen in a game. He was impressed becase JD was prepared and all this ultimately led to his decision.

You raise a fair point about whether Matt was on the JV or varsity team when Street got hurt, but I'm not sure its relevant from a story line or reality standpoint. I have seen high school teams that have a sophmore backup who suits up for both the JV and varsity games. That player would start the JV games to get the playing experience, but also suit up for varsity in case a 2nd or 3rd string QB is needed. There was nothing unrealistic about Saracen getting thrown into the Season 1, ep 1 game when Street got hurt, regardless of whether Matt was JV or varsity at that time.

Yes, they have made reference in the past that there is a Dillon High JV team. In Season 1 when the black players threatened to refuse to play unless Coach McGill was fired, the announced temporary solution from Coach Taylor was to bring up guys from the JV team to replace them. Not only that, we got to watch them try to practice with the varsity and be awful and screw everything up on the football field. Riggins was assigned to try to coach a couple of them into shape, which led to some pretty funny scenes.

The writers do actually seem to show some semblence of how a high school football program actually works. Yes, there are too many last second victories and losses to be realistic, but some people imply that the knowledge of football and high school football that the writers have in particular is a joke and I disagree. They get it right 98% of the time. It's fun to quibble over the other 2% they get wrong, but I disagree when people imply that the writers are clueless about how Texas high school football actually works.

As for the discrepencies over what years the characters are in school; it's been talked about quite a bit already. Even the writers have acknowledged that they have taken some liberties with this. Harping on it seems like beating a shot horse at this point.

Weighing in on Matt versus JD, I agree that starting Matt and playing him most of the time, while trying to get some playing time to groom JD for the future is the way to go. People bring up good points about Matt having more experience and the presumption that JD wouldn't know the right audibles, etc., but the writers have tried to cover that by constantly showing JD practicing with his own personal QB coach on his own time (and his parents' money) prior to Dillon High practices. This, by the way, is another real phenomenon in high school football these days. Parents are paying thousands of dollars for their high school kids to be tutored by personal QB coaches (e.g. Jimmy Clausen that now plays for Notre Dame). So this is another thing that the writers have gotten right about modern high school football.

bump

I thought Saracen was only a junior this year. I thought he was a freshman when he took over for Street 2 seasons later he should be a junior. Riggins has been a senior for 2 years now we got to keep Saracen on the show a bit longer.

Hi Jimmy

I think it's fair to say that this question of the age/grade of any of the kids has been a confusing one from the beginning and has caused many a viewer to scratch his/her head and say, "But I thought....?"

You can find more info about this particular question here and here.

This is a stupid question. The day I see an average-above average senior quarterback lose his starting to spot to a guy out of Junior High I will resign from coaching at Millard South High School. Think about it, you have a guy thats played for 3 years, not only played but won. Then you want a 15 year old kid to "try" to lead a high school team to a state championship. Honestly, any coach in their right mind would play a junior with no talent, that has had reps in practice for 3 years, and has had in-game experience. On top of him being straight out of junior high he hasn't seen the offense and just moved to town. In the real world this kid would be a joke, but then again its a dumb show where anything can happen...

Hello Huskerguy! I will agree with you that pulling Matt, in reality, would not make any sense. I think the major point they are trying to make is that the whole town never put their faith in Matt. They, the boosters, never were really behind Matt. They were more concerned about finding another Jason. Along comes JD McCoy and they think he is the second coming of Jason Street. The coach was pushed to deal with JD. He does not seem to really want to deal with JD but he has to work and keep his job.

When you think about it, I don't think the town ever really put their faith in Coach Taylor. I think in the first episode Buddy told him something about a 2 game deal. I got the impression that if he lost 2 games he would not be the coach any longer. I know it doesn't work that way but the writers didn't have that much time to explore this part of the story.

I do differ with you when you say that this is a dumb show! If you have not watched it before you have really missed a lot of exposition and these characters have a lot of background. JD is a good player but I think Coach Taylor knows he has not played under pressure and he knows that high school football is a long way from Junior High Football! Perhaps he is willing to give JD a try to shut up the town.

I love Matt Saracen; it was devastating to see him lose the starting job. I have to think CT has to put the guy out there who gives him the best chace to win, even if it seems unrealistic that a freshman could give his team a better chance to win than a senior with 3 years experience.

The burning question is, can JD take the pounding a hs QB must take? I would think soon he will either show he can take the pounding and win his teammates' respect, or show he can't and be on the bench with MS as the started again.

As for Riggins being a senior 2 years in a row, knowing him, maybe he flunked? (Although if he did I would think he'd be ineligible for sports.)

Vert sure Matt will start, tho I wouldn't say there's no reason for JD to play at all. It would tourment Matt if JD started tho, pretty unnecessary.

JD is a good football player. The only thing I can say about JD is he is way too young to just jump in a take over such a major position. Perhaps "too young" is not correct, JD does not have the experience he needs to think on his feet. He played in middle school but he has had such a closed life personally as well as on the field. He is way too nervous! I don't know how the coach can deal with JD in this major position.

In context of the story, putting the spread offense in, prompted coach to go with a more experienced QB with that offense. Sometimes it works with a rookie, sometimes it doesn't. I'm old school, I like the most experienced QB in the program. Coach Mack Brown of Texas, has a similar philosphy, but that changed with Coach Bill Muschamp and maybe Coach Major Applewhite last season. I also feel who perfoms best in practice should start.