3.06 It Ain’t Easy Being J.D. McCoy Recap

At night, Riggins and other upperclassmen invoke the traditional Panthers freshman initiation: The Naked Mile. Everyone has to strip down and run to the water tower, but since J.D. is now QB1 and therefore special, he has to run to the field house by himself. Working later, Taylor is disgusted that J.D. fell for the naked mile trick. Mortified, J.D. pleads with Taylor not to tell his dad; Taylor wouldn’t dream of it.

Erin has packed a trailer full of her possessions, and is preparing to drive with baby Noah to Connecticut to live with her parents. Promising that his plan to make a nest egg by fixing up Buddy’s house will work, Jason is devastated to say goodbye. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for Saturday night’s school dance. Tami has to chaperone and wants Taylor to promise to be her date, but neither Taylor nor Julie are interested in attending.

It’s dinnertime at the McCoy house. Julie wants to know if J.D. has spied any cute cheerleaders, but Joe claims that J.D.’s too busy to get serious about girls. Joe acknowledges that J.D. is under a lot of pressure, but he’s real proud of him.When Grandma learns that Saracen has been demoted to QB2, she resolves to give Taylor a piece of her mind and set the situation right.

Riggins skips school for the first day of work on the flip. Jason and Billy are immediately at odds: Jason has a budget and a schedule, but Billy doesn’t like being told what to do. Landry rehearses with his band — yet another depressing power ballad about losing Tyra. When Landry accuses his band mates of sucking, they quit. Landry knows that Jimmy the drummer will be back tomorrow.

Cash stops by Applebee’s to urge Tyra to take off work early to join him at the pool hall. She can’t, having promised to make decorations for the dance. Besides she has to work overtime all month to earn money for her college applications, which are expensive. Julie watches as Cash urges Tyra to take money for her applications, and promises to pick her up after the dance.

Taylor isn’t happy to see the older guys teasing J.D. at practice for his naked mile run. Afterwards, he pulls Riggins into the office. There’s a big game coming up, and J.D. needs to know that the team is behind him. Taylor asks for Riggins to fix it, without defining what that might mean. Later, Riggins insists on giving J.D. a ride home from practice, giving him a colorful tour of Dillon’s bars and strip clubs.

Angela lays into Tyra for working on her college applications while Mindy is trying on wedding dresses. How is she going to hang on to her cowboy if she goes to college in San Francisco? Tyra claims that Cash has been supportive, giving her money for application fees. Stunned, Angela claims this is a very good sign — men just don’t normally like to take care of women like that. Tyra better hang on to him.

Taylor and Julie run into Saracen and Grandma in the grocery store. As Grandma lays into Taylor, Julie and Saracen wander off. Saracen admits that he’s been spending more time on the bench with Landry since his demotion, and it hasn’t been too harsh. Grandma makes peace with Taylor — it’s hard to stay mad at him.

Jason returns to the house to find Herc demolishing a load-bearing wall, and Billy crowing over a $1700 toilet with bidet feature. Jason hits the roof, and Billy gets mad — he doesn’t like anyone talking to him like he’s a moron. Jason gives him the to-do list to post on the wall, and Billy shoots a nail through his hand. Herc laughs, Jason leaves in disgust, and Billy yells for a pair of pliers.

Holding her two-year-old, Ali knocks on Tyra’s door, demanding to see Cash. She tells Tyra that Cash owes her $1600 in child support. J.D. leads the team to a stunning victory over Westby on Friday night, impressing everyone except Grandma, who cries in the stands. After the game, Riggins is just convincing J.D. to come out and party with the boys when Joe pulls him away to celebrate at Applebee’s.

Even though he doesn’t want to go, Lyla extracts a promise from Riggins to escort her to the school dance. Jason bumps into Taylor at the lumber yard, and tells him all about the plan to flip Buddy’s house. When Taylor looks doubtful, Jason claims it’s all going great, and invites Taylor to stop by.

At work, Tyra confesses all to Julie. She was stupid for thinking she could fall in love with Cash. When Cash shows up to try to explain, Tyra gives him his money back and sends him packing. Landry and Jimmy hold auditions to find a new bass player for the band. It’s all bad until cute and goofy freshman Devin shows up. When the guys learn that Devin can sing too, she’s immediately voted into the band.

Taylor stops by the house, which is a total mess. Jason is downhearted, thinking he may have made the biggest mistake of his life. He doesn’t want to be a deadbeat dad. Taylor tells Jason to calm down; he’s only 20, and definitely not a deadbeat. He’s made a plan and he’s executing it — he just has to give himself a chance.

Saracen shows up at Julie’s house to ask if she wants to go swimming at the lake. He never thought he would play pro, but he was hoping that football would help him pay for college. Now he’s sitting on the bench and it sucks. However, he did just experience the first Saturday morning in his entire high school career when he didn’t wake up kicking himself for mistakes he made on the field the night before.

At the dance, Tami congratulates Tyra for her awesome decorations. Tyra tells Tami that she broke up with Cash; Tami was right about him. While keeping an eye on Tyra, Landry works through some of his songs with Devin. One musician to another, Devin thinks all the songs are about one girl. Devin thinks the band could be really great, as long as Landry gets over his fixation with whoever this girl is.

Lyla and Riggins run into J.D., who’s dressed in a suit and tie. Even though Lyla balks and J.D. doesn’t drink, Riggins insists on leaving the dance in favor of getting a beer at a house party, promising memories and no regrets. Riggins drops J.D. next to the keg, where the upperclassmen quickly persuade him to have a drink.

Cash knocks on Tyra’s door to explain himself. He did hook up with Ali five years ago, and she became obsessed with him, so he left town. Now that he’s back, she’s insisting that her kid is his, which is impossible. Cash has no reason to be dishonest with Tyra. He promises to never lie, and she takes him back.

Riggins finds J.D. three sheets to the wind, playing air guitar for a cheering crowd. Riggins and Lyla carry J.D. out of the party, as he points out what cute kids they’ll have together. Riggins is the last American cool dude — he doesn’t listen to anyone’s dad. Meanwhile, Julie and Saracen barbecue hot dogs by the lake. When Julie suggests that it’s time to go, they fall to kissing, and she pushes Saracen to the ground.

Saracen drives Julie home at first light, and she successfully sneaks into her bedroom, still starry-eyed from the night before. At church, Tami notices Julie and Saracen’s looks during mass. Afterwards, Joe confronts Taylor, making J.D. confess to getting drunk last night and promising it will never happen again. Julie interrupts, claiming Gracie needs her father.

As the guys work on the house, Jason checks in with Erin, who has yet to reach her parents’ home, and has pulled over to rest. Jason misses her like crazy, and asks her to put baby Noah on the phone — he doesn’t want the baby to forget him. Jason sings his son a song as the guys look on incredulously.

Source: NBC

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