"This is not just about football"

SPOILER ALERT!! I'm watching "Friday Night Lights" on Direct TVs 101 network so if you're waiting until NBC airs the episodes in 2010, read no further!

So Matt Saracen is gone. Really gone. I mean, I knew that last week, but watching Julie nurse a broken heart made mine break too. For three years we've watched her and Matt fall in love so I feel shortchanged that they didn't give the relationship some sort of closure. I know it happens like that in real life sometimes but this is TV. I wanted my happy ending. Pause it: Chin up, Jules. Been there, done that, went to therapy about it then claimed the visits on my taxes.

To help herself out of the break-up slump, Julie signs up for every extracurricular activity she can find, including the beautifully named Academic Smackdown, a Quiz Bowl-like school competition that she also sucks Landry into. "Do you realize the irony behind the term 'academic smackdown?'" he quips. Julie ends up breaking down after finding out that Matt has been in contact with his family but hasn't bothered to call her. Where do you think Matt took off to? Chicago to give art school another try? I hope it's somewhere close so he can come home and visit us. The only thing that could drive this story home is if Julie finds herself in the family way and Matt is forced to come back to take care of the baby.

Elsewhere around the town, Coach Taylor picks Vince to be quarterback for the East Dillon Lions. I am loving the slow build of the relationship between the two of them. When the police show up to search Vince's locker after someone accuses him of carrying a gun, Coach Taylor takes his time confronting him. He offers Vince a pep talk about the importance of staying out of trouble, but Vince isn't as trusting of Coach just yet. "Am I just another player who can throw the ball and run fast?" he says. "If I break my ankle and can't play no more, you still going to come around here?" Vince obviously sees Coach as the father he doesn't have, so getting attached to someone who may leave at any moment doesn't have much appeal. It was very telling when Vince shows up at Coach Taylor's house and hands him a paper sack with the gun inside. I hope Coach doesn't disappoint him. If he's telling Vince to walk the right path, the least he can do is help him read the map.

Dillon High is awarded the Blue Ribbon of Excellence and they have Tami to thank for that. She's been the principal for a year and has already turned the school around. The staff takes her out to celebrate and as soon as they cut to a karaoke bar I thought Tami was being set up to be caught in a compromising position. Well, she was put in a position alright. One of the drunk teachers plants a kiss on her as they waited for a cab. Pause it: Tami is far more diplomatic about that situation than I would've been. I know he was drunk and all, but he definitely would've gotten a tongue lashing and it wouldn't have been that French kiss he was going for.

There were a lot of sweet moments in this show, but one of the most tender was when "Tinker", one of the football players, shows up to help Luke fix a fence for his father. Luke had already missed practice and was falling asleep during school when "Tinker" offers to lend a hand. "Friday Night Lights" is set against the backdrop of football, but like Vince said, "This is not just about football." This show has always been about showcasing the best and worst sides of people's personalities; their joys and heartbreaks; their pride and their shame. You can't help but to melt when Riggins gently explains to Becky why her father will never be the type of dad she wants. Or when Luke's dad realizes his son is a great football player. Those are the moments that bring me back to Dillon, Texas, every week ... not football.

It's three weeks until we get a new episode. I'll try not to hurt myself during the wait.