Then University of Texas head football coach Mack Brown has an uncredited cameo as an aggressive booster. He's also mentioned twice in the episode.
Jason Street gets injured in the first game of the season resulting in the quarterback becoming paralyzed. This may sound similar to fans of the team that the show is based on, the Permian Panthers.
During the 2000 Permian football season, Joe Beene, who was a senior on the team, went in for a routine tackle at practice that ultimately paralyzed him from the neck down. The entire West Texas community grieved and showed mass amounts of support and prayer for Joe and his family.
Awards and Nominations: Conrad M. Gonzalez, Keith Henderson and Stephen Michael won the 2007 Eddie Award for "Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television" for this episode. Peter Berg was nominated for the 2007 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series" for this episode.
"P" on the Dillon Panthers helmet and water tower in the city actually references the Permian High School Panthers from Odessa, TX, the team and school that the book is based on.
Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Aimee Teegarden, Zach Gilford, Taylor Kitsch, Adrianne Palicki, Jesse Plemons, Brad Leland, Derek Phillips, Louanne Stephens are only cast members to appeared in pilot and final episode.