Sadly, after 20 years at Camp Kilpatrick, the stellar football program featured in the film was sidelined in 2014 pending the outcome of a study on the long term benefits thereof; despite helping to send multiple former Mustang players to college.

Though portrayed as the antagonist of the film, the real Paul Higa was one of the biggest advocates of the program.

During a practice scene, Dwayne Johnson can be seen paying tribute to his college career by wearing the number 94, the same number he wore during his time with the Miami Hurricanes.

Based on a true story of a juvenile detention center football team that made it to the state championship. The team was followed by a film crew and the footage became a TV documentary in 1993. After it aired on TV the creators were swamped with big studio offers to make it into a feature film but for various reasons it took over twelve years to make it to the big screen as a feature.

One of the players on Barrington had the last name of Plank. Kevin Plank is the founder & CEO of Under Armour. All the team's uniforms in this movie were sponsored by Under Armour.

Continuity

In the Mustang's first game against the Panthers there is an interception in which the receiving Panther never changes direction and continues to run to the Mustang's end zone. The Panthers are still awarded the touch down as if there were no mistake made.

The first time we see Junior's last name written on his helmet (inside the locker room), it is written with one capital letter and the rest are small letters. Seconds later, on the practice field, his name is written in all capital letters.

In their final game before the playoffs the announcer states the score is 17-14 and when they show the final score, it's 21-7 after Willie runs in his touchdown.

When the Mustangs are playing the playoff game, #55 of the Panthers is seen in one scene with long sleeves, then moments later he has no sleeves.

In the playoff game, when Willie Weathers is receiving the kickoff at the start of the game. He is wearing under armor, but later throughout the whole game he isn't.



Factual errors

Willie would not have been sent to a Juvenile Detention center for shooting his mother's boyfriend. With the boyfriend having already abused Willies mother in the past, the physical violence against her that evening, his physical violence against her in the scene, the physical violence and threat against Willie himself, and then rushing Willie; Willie was within his legal right of self-defense and the rightful defense of others for his actions to not be prosecuted.

In the playoff victory, after the long 50 yard completed pass, setting up the final play...before the play starts, there are 11 seconds left. The prior play ended with the receiver getting knocked out of bounds. Then, before the ball is snapped before the last play...the clock is running. That shouldn't have happened...the clock shouldn't run until the ball is snapped.

At the end of the playoff game against the Panthers, Kenny Bates catches a long pass, and is knocked out of bounds. After an out of bounds play, the clock doesn't restart until the ball is hiked, yet the clock starts when the whistle blows.



Revealing mistakes

It appears that the first game and the last game were filmed at the same time. The broad-leaf trees look the same during both games.

During the playoff game, Junior's (hurt player/trainer) logo appears backwards and on the wrong side of his polo shirt.



Anachronisms

The events were supposed to have taken place in 1993. You can see the teams wearing Under Armour gear but UA wasn't made public until 1995-1996 and it was sold to the Georgia Institute of Technology (or Georgia Tech).

When the coach is in the office after the Mustangs win a game and go swimming, the book says 2005 on the cover.



Crew or equipment visible

When Willie shoots his mother's boyfriend on the ground, the squids or blood patches are visible protruding from his shirt.



Plot holes

Dexter and Coach are discussed Willie Weathers' being on the team, saying that they agreed that no killers would be on the team. However, earlier Kelvin Owens had said Junior (who was also on the team) thought he was the king of Samoa because he had killed a Mexican with a baseball bat.