Shutdown Fullcast - 40 FOR 40: The 2025 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Episode Date: December 21, 2025

WWWWWWWWELCOME to the return of 40 For 40, our bowl preview series where every bowl game gets its own episode and each episode is exactly as long as that game deserves.Who decides what “deserves” means? We do! Thank you for askingNow through December 31, 100% of proceeds from all PTKU merch sales will be donated to Trans Ohio. Visit preownedairboats.com to purchase BRAND-NEW BLUE SHARKS GEAR #EXCLUSIVEThis episode was produced by Michael Ray SurberFullcast theme 40 For 40 intro arranged and performed by Russell PowellFullcast theme 40 For 40 outro arranged and performed by MattDID YOU KNOW: Spencer and Holly write Channel 6, a year-round newsletter that is mostly about football, until it’s notBefore the world ends (again), treat yourself to Jason’s critically praised novel and other workTravel in your mind palace to Phantom Island, Ryan’s new show with Steven Godfrey, which is not a college football show because another simply cannot existCheck out Surber’s band Killer Antz and his new show Podcasterino

Welcome to the 40-for-40 potato bowl preview. This game is the epitome of what we mean when we say that in exchange for asking us to care about these games, that the people putting them on look like they care just a tiny, tiny bit in return. Looking at you, New Orleans Bowl. In this year, Utah State and Washington State,

is that what we're here to talk about? No, it is not. The Idaho Potato Commission works harder than God and the devil put together. This is an ESPN-owned bowl. That's usually bad. What this game loses in being owned by ESPN, it makes up for not only in remaining the only bowl game that has a logo with chives in it, but in spelling out the date in French fries on their website. They put their asses into it just a tiny little bit.

They have a giant anthropomorphic potato with eyes called Spud Buddy, who is the mascot of the game, who is pictured on their website in like a suspiciously romantic-looking ski chalet. ski lift situation with the trophy, which is a bowl of giant potatoes, who will write a monster ski romance about the Idaho Potato Bowl mascot? And how soon will it be available for purchase? Anyway. Doesn't have the seatbelt thing down on the gate either. No, no, because he's dangerous. Can't die. Can't die. He's a bad buddy. Since 2011, this game has been sponsored by the Idaho I love this game so fucking much. Since 2011, this game has been sponsored by the Idaho Potato Commission. The Idaho Potato Commission established in 1937 is a state agency that is responsible for promoting

and protecting the famous grown-in Idaho seal, a federally registered trademark that assures consumers they are purchasing genuine, top-quality Idaho potatoes. Idaho's ideal growing conditions, including rich volcanic soil, climate, and irrigation differentiate Idaho potatoes from potatoes grown at other states. They have never paid me a dime to shill for this game, and they'll never need to. Do you guys know they drop a potato at midnight at the Idaho State Capitol, like giant potato off the top of a building, like the beach drop that no longer exists? You can go there at Idaho potato drop.com.

Do you mean on New Year's Eve or just every midnight there is a potato drop? You know what? I'm not there. And those people drink rails. You never know. Virginia Tech and Boise State fans, neither of you are involved in this game. game, but if you've ever been to Virginia Tech, you've basically been drunk at Boise and vice versa. There's a lot of similarities in those drinking cultures.

Merch items include choice cuts of Idaho potato shirt, which is an Idaho potato cut up to look like cuts of beef, a additional t-shirt that says exercise, I thought you said extra fries, new this year, I think, an apron that says, go ahead, bake my day, and a pair of socks with sputty buddy parachuting out of what appears to be a biplane that already has a different sputty buddy in it. Was D.B. Cooper twins. The Idaho Potato Commission is not afraid to ask. Also available for purchase this year.

Golf Club covers. An incredibly inefficient Idaho-shaped cutting board. A grown in Idaho onesie for babies. A sputty-buddy backpack that is 25 inches tall, including legs. supplementing the famous French fry cup holder with a dip trip sauce holder, which is a little air conditioning vent plug thing that you can use to put a dip cup in for your fries. We have a sack of these tiny potato pins somewhere in the studio here, and I can't remember who sent them to us.

Thank you for that. I said we've never been paid. We have been paid in tiny potato pins. Also for sale on the Idaho Potato Commission website, a 22-inch scale model version of the big potato truck, confusingly labeled It's Real on the side. The actual potato truck, which is like a semi-truck with a six-ton potato on the back of it, that actual truck will show up at events.

You can request it at their website. You can also meet the team of drivers. Here are their handles. Spudshine, Travel Tatar, Tater Titan, Tater Totter, excuse me, Tater-totter, and Super Spud. If the potato on the truck were real, it would have the following stats. Four tons, equivalent to 21,562,000. medium-sized potatoes, 20,217 servings. It would make a million French fries and would take 7,000 years to grow. Can I, can I interrupt briefly? Sure. I hate when I am asked to find a

medium-sized potato or a medium-sized onion. Yeah, what the hell does that even mean? I just want us to have two sizes. There's small potatoes and there's large. That's it. I don't want to have to guess that this potato is medium or like just small and large. That's all I want. That's it. Would it make you feel better if I told you the Idaho Potato Commission website has added jokes this year? It would. Why did the potato cross the road, Ryan? Why did the potato cross the road? There was a fork up ahead. Oh, sure. Yep.

C-plus. In addition to the Big Potato Hotel, which is a previous version of the Big Potato Truck Potato that has been turned into an Airbnb, there is also now a customized silo turned into a spa retreat for an extra dose of

cuteness. Do you, like, is it a potato spa? I think it's just in a silo that they stuck a hot tub in, but you can look that up on Airbnb if you want to. Ooh, it's like a potato cave. Yeah, that's fun. It's like they hollered it out. Are you luxuriating in like sour cream? Yeah. Oh yeah. With like, it's a Lazarus device with potato features. The rare literal, I know it's smell crazy in there. Yeah. Anyway, we all know what we're here for, which is the Dr. Potato blog, which is a real section of the Idaho Potato Commission's website, which has actual good food science questions, such as Pennsylvania's, this one's for you. I wanted to make long flat French fries, similar to how

they slice pickles for sandwiches. What would be the best cooking method? Questions that a lot of people have, like, why would I want to rinse excess starch off my potatoes before air prying, or how to make a potato in the microwave? Practical advice. But what we are really here for, what we come back year after year four is the recipes on the Dr. Potato blog. To date, we have 19001 recipes. I really thought you were about to do the Nicole Kidman, like, we come here for the recipe. Heartbreak does feel better when you have a fuck ton of potatoes. So they do not delete recipes over time.

They're accumulating. No, apparently not. To date, 123 different food bloggers have contributed their own recipes. Not all these come from commission. They have everything from, two of the things that caught my eye this year, Korean Bulgogi on Tater Tots, which sounds like Stoner Heaven. Sure. And some bright and bubbly blogger suggested homemade potato chips with champagne pairings

based on what you're dipping the tots in. Now I'm listening. Okay. Right? All right. We know why we're here. And Spencer's gone, which is good because he's creepily good at this quiz, and I cannot in good faith rule out the fact that he might have stayed up

memorizing the entire Idaho Potato Commission website. I have the successor to the Beefo Brady's Bowl menu quiz, which is the Dr. Potato recipe blog menu quiz. Gentlemen, I am going to present you with eight questions. Each of these questions contains three absolutely real recipes from the Idaho Potato Commission website and one that I have made up. If you are new this year, basically the conceit behind the Idaho Potato Commission website is every potato recipe you've ever thought of in your entire life plus, hey, what if your favorite food was also made out of potatoes? We can do that for you.

All right, you guys ready? Yeah. One, three of these recipes are real. One of them is fake. Is it A, chocolate chip potato banana bread bites? B, black olive and pepperoni personal potato pan pizza. C, gluten-free cornbread muffins with Idaho potato frosting, or D, non-alcoholic potato tini's. Uh, the pizza.

My guess is one. Oh, okay. I was wrong as well. Answer was D, non-alcoholic potato tini. Are there alcoholic potato tis? Not that I can, well, I mean, it depends on your vodka. Spencer got that one instantly with a speed that frankly upset me, so I'm glad it's gone. That one, it seemed to me, like, you want the gimmicky ones on the site.

Sure. It makes it tricky. Okay. Question two. A, potato and beet tartar. B. Do you say beet or beef? Beat.

Okay. Thank you. B, chocolate potato fudge. C. Potato, cranberry holiday chutney. D. Chilled summer Idaho potato lasagna in scare quotes for some. reason. I am, I am, Chutney feels like it would not be like this might be a thing, but I don't think we

would call it chutney. So I'm going to say C is the fake one. Ryan, you're correct. I will tell you guys that potato and beet tartar is the most upsetting food photo I have ever seen on this website. I am going to share it in the chat now for your perusal and horror. Shouldn't it just be raw potatoes and raw beats? Like in my missing. I don't think that's what tartar means, but they apparently disagree. Oh, huh. Okay. Yet Tartar is not great photograph anyway. Sure. This is, this is, uh, more involved than I would have thought it is than I would have thought. Okay. Yeah. Sure. Uh, that's the whole, man. This is more involved than I thought it would be is the story of the Idaho Potato Commission website. Sure. All right. So we are, we are one for two. Question three. Three of

these are real. One is fake. Is it a potato pie brule? B, Idaho potato stuffed whole holiday goose C, Korean potato cheese dog Or D, chocolate covered Idaho potato and bacon sundaes I feel like the Sunday one has come up before on previous editions so I'm going to say that one is real I really want the goose one to be real but Jason what are your thoughts?

It's easily the funniest one which like maybe I go too far and I think like If I were designing this website, I would want lots of attention grabers, so I would put that on the site. The goose one? Let's just say this. We're not going to tell you which one is fake. We want the goose one to be real. That's our answer.

You know what? In the spirit of Christmas, let's keep it there and move on to question four. All right. Three of these are real. One of these is fake. Is it A, surf and turf, tater, tumbler, nagiri. B, vegan potato, jumbos, shrimp, in scare quotes, for some reason, and scampy. C, potato watermelon salad

Or D, vanilla potato milk with Yukon gold potatoes Wow, vanilla potato milk With I'm gonna say I hope that one's not real Unfortunately it is God damn it Vegan potato jumbo shrimp scampy is fake Thank God for now

That would be challenging Sir it's very early in the episode for you to be rubbing your eyes in exhaustion No it's not fun No, it's not. All right, gang, halfway through. We're doing great. Question five, three of these are real.

One is fake. Is it A, potato dough donuts, hyphenated for some reason. B, potato tart to town. C, individual Yorkshire potato puddings or D. Cheesy potato drumsticks. Individual Yorkshire potato puddings. Yeah. Fancy symbol of potato pudding.

That doesn't, no, stop. Cheesy potato drumsticks, by the way, is a previous. crap answer that literally involves molding potatoes into the shape of a chicken drumstick and deep frying it. These people are demented and I love them so much. Because we've never stopped innovating. We don't need AI. Why would we need AI when we're making potato? Thank you. Vox is out of ideas. You know, who isn't the goddamn Idaho Potato Commission. Onward to Boise. Question six. Three of these are real. One is fake. Is it A, summer potato and Meyer Lemon Grenada. B. Potato roses tart. C.

cheesy cranberry and brie Idaho potato pull-aparts or D crisp Idaho potato steak with peppercorn gravy and Poblano cheddar Idaho Yukon gold mashed potatoes that sounds too normal yep that said potato steak that's my guess is making a terrible face that the fourth one sounds too normal that's my guess all right Ryan I I think that's right I'm going to agree with Jason because I'm trapped mentally all of you bit and missed on potato granita at the top are you out of your minds i don't know what that is i forgot about that it's shaped ice potato and mire lemon a truly baffling combination yeah that was listen i just feel i feel good that i feel good about this version this year i called my shot earlier on social but i think

this is going to wreck some people this year all right two more questions you're almost home three of these are real one is fake is it a idaho potato pizza puffs b pomegranate potato rice C, crispy Idaho potato with Yuzu coriander vinaigrette or D, barbecue pork parfe with Idaho potato and ranch sauce. That one's real. That one's real. That one's real. That last one's

just for Jason. That one's real. You'd try it. What was the first two? Idaho potato pizza puffs and pomegranate potato rice. C is crispy Idaho potato satay with Yuzu coriander vinaigrette. I'm going to say two is the fake one.

Correct. Okay. All right. Last question. Three of these are real. One is big. Is it A, potato poppy seed noodle casserole. B, apple butterscotch baked French toast with Idaho potatoes. Are the potatoes on the side? No, they're in the toast. C, holiday Idaho potato casserole with papayas and pineapple.

Or D. Idaho potato-taught casserole wantons. There's a trap in here for you, old heads. I'm at the point now where the words have stopped meaning anything, like my brain is just shutting. You're satiated as if you're full of delicious Idaho potatoes. Yes, as if the gears of my brain are just trapped with potatoes at this point. I don't have an answer. I don't.

I remember, in that list, I remember the wonton casserole. But I'll say B, whatever that was. Apple, butterscotch baked friends toast with Idaho potatoes. Serbs, you got a guess? C. All of you are wrong. Potato poppy seed noodle casserole is fake, and all of the rest of those are real. That's a lot.

It's a lot. It's a lot. Oh, thank you very much for playing. This has been our 40 for 40 Idaho Potato Bowl 2025 preview. We are done.