Coach Taylor and Tim Riggins are at odds when it comes to Julie, and Tim needs some advice on the situation. The Panthers' biggest game of the season is coming up against Laribee High School and all the attention seems to be focused on what Coach Taylor will do to prepare for it. Smash is running into obstacles when everyone wants a verbal commitment to their college programs, except the one he wants.
Not only do Coach Taylor have to adjust to their rivals Laribee High School sharing their lockers, football fields, and weight room with them after a tornado strikes, but he also has to adjust, along with Tami and Julie, to Tim Riggins living with them. After being cleared of murder, Landry and Tyra now must work on their relationship.
Landry finally comes clean about his role in the murder of the man who assulted Tyra. Herc decides that it's a good idea to find Street a date on an online dating service. There is termoil between Julie and Tami as they prepare for baby Gracie's christening.
Matt decides he wants an open relationship because he likes his grandma's caretaker and his current girlfriend. Things explode at the Taylor house when Eric goes off on Tami for relationship with someone at work, after Tami goes off on one of Julie's teachers. Landry contemplates turning himself in after he goes in place of Tyra to meet her attacker's brother. Smash's first recruitment trip leaves him thinking twice about college.
The day Smash has waited for has finally arrived...the first day he can talk to recruiters. Coach Taylor eyes a new potential asset for the Panthers. Lyla and Tyra are asked by Tami to run the annual Pantherama. Matt wants his cake and he wants to eat it too when he is fond over his grandma's caretaker and his new girlfriend. Julie is jealous about the situation and turns to her writing teacher for someone to talk to.
Landry's dad is put into a tough position when he has to choose whether to be a cop or a father once Landry confesses to what he did. Shelley, Tami's free spirited "green" sister comes to help out, but instead makes Tami rethink her choices and questions Dillon. And if Riggins wants back on the team, he first needs to prove it to Coach Taylor.
Coach Taylor understands that life is falling apart in Dillon without him, so he goes back to being the head coach for the Panthers. He first realizes that he needs to fix the problems between Smash and Matt. Riggins asks Lyla to help him in stopping Street for undergoing the experimental surgery.
Street strongly desires experimental surgery to help him recover as Tim and Jason head to Mexico. Coach Taylor accepts an offer that changes his life. A development in a police search deeply affects the lives of Tyra and Landry. Lyla is too busy helping a newcomer to Dillon, to see that Riggins is worried about Street.
Matt and Smash have a hard time listening to their coach as they prepare for their first game of the new season. Coach Taylor heads back to Dillon to check on his family and finds out just what is happening to the Panthers since he's left.
So many things have changed at Dillon High and the first day of school is the real test. Matt stands by as his world comes crashing down, while Landry still copes to make sense of his. All eyes seem to be focusing on Smash, while Tami tries to adjust to having a teenager and a newborn.