Shutdown Fullcast - 40 FOR 40: The 2025 Salute To Veterans Bowl

Episode Date: December 16, 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 shutdown for forecast 40 for 40 at the end of that. What's happening? What are we doing? Oh my God, this is different. Why is this up on a Tuesday? Well, we went up on a Tuesday because this is 40 for 40 season. If you'll remember, we profile and preview bowl games, 4440. This has been going on so long that the title itself has outlived the ESPN franchise on which it was mockingly named after. Yeah, because it was originally 35 for 35, and then we had to change the name. Because we used to do this on EDSBS. Yes. It's also gone on so long that there are arguably as many as 46 bowls, and that number has fluctuated every year since. And we'll continue.

Also, there's so many that we could do 40 episode previews and not even hit every game, which we haven't done because some of these games have already happened. Good job, Washington. Yeah, assholes. So what we are... Showed up for a scheduled game. What we've been doing is we've been clustering these because, oh my God, we had broadcast partners

and we had, you know, people, they were like, oh, you can't do what you used to do, which was... You can't drop 40 push notifications into somebody's podcast app. Watch us! So we're doing individual episodes for all of these. You are listening to the first one. These episodes will be as long as they need to be, if we got this much to say about the game, we're going to say this much.

If I, holding hands wider, want to say this much about the game, then we're going to go ahead and do that. Does this morning have anything to do with the fact that we are about to talk about a bowl game taking place in Montgomery? That absolutely does. Live from the Cranfton Bowl, that's right. It's the IS4S salute to the veterans bowl. That's not ISIS, right? No, IS4S. Now you might ask, what is IS4S?

I have news for you. I have read their entire site, and I still don't understand what they do. It has, there are explosions in the looping gifts in the back of the site, and then people doing math. I assume that these are the people, and their motto is ethics over profit. Oh, what the hell. Yeah, so they're into some real evil shit, is what I'm hearing. Yeah. I assume that their chief product is the Wedding Annihilator 9,000, and that they build it in Huntsville.

By the way, they are in Huntsville, and per their website, and I am quoting, establishing our headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama was an intentional choice that keeps us connected to our military commitment and purpose every day. Yikes. Yeah, I think that sounded better in the original German. They're like, yeah, because the Struzel is so good in Huntsville. It's the Oppenheimer Surprise Bowl.

Yeah, the American. Also, one of their contact addresses is in Auburn. Worse and worse. Exploding dogs for the United States military, an important asset that IS4S. Welcome to the Anniston, Alabama Fraternal. order of police last Starbucks on i20 classic i just looked up what is apparently their headquarters it's the most like basic warehouse looking thing terrifying like well i mean it's it sort of looks

like if a little country restaurant you took the front of it and put it on a warehouse and then inside it um had a bunch of people annihilators i guess there's a little girl in a hospital gown with blood streaming from her eyes walking very slowly away from it as smoke unfurls from the door This logo is insane. And a saloon madam for some reason. You see why I thought this was ISIS? The Black Eagle with the ethics over profit. Yeah.

Terrifying. That's not weird. How come Palantir doesn't sponsor a bowl game? They do. You just don't know about it. I mean, Lockheed sponsors one. I'm really asking. Lockheed, the cheerful, the cheerful sponsor-friendly wedding annihilator 9,000-maker.

Palantir sponsored Miami, Texas, A&M. Palantir. Do you think veterans get to do that? get to reject this gesture. Do you think they get to say, nah, do better? We deserve better than a Tuesday bowl on December 6th. Ryan, I think you're looking at it the wrong way. This is the only bowl game that dared to answer the most important question in football and award its most important trophy, which is today we determine the Alabama national champion. That's right. This is because this goal game pairs not one, but two teams, two teams from the L.O.

The first being Troy, a.k.a. All universe Auburn. Dark Auburn. We have Auburn at home. I would like to note that both of these teams did better in their conference title games than anyone else in the state of Alabama did. That's true. I think Dank Auburn is actually Southern Miss. I think that is true. That's the real Jimmy Buffett, Auburn, a Southern Miss, yeah. What you need to know about Troy is this. Everybody, I'm going to say this in my most, the Hummers are back accent, all right? Folks. Goose Crowder is back after injury.

That's right. They're starting quarterback Goose Crowder. Transfer from West Virginia. I love guys with names that sounds like something you would call, like something somebody in a 1950s coming of age movie would call their brother. Yeah. Like, shut it, Groose Crowder. Goose Crowder. If it wasn't Alabama as hell already, his backup who performed.

reasonably well in his uh in his stead while he was recovering tucker keel crease shut the fuck up that's not real yes the alabama the alabama quarterback singularity more alabama than alabama football itself goose crowder and tucker kill crease are the starting are the starting depth chart for that was good uh they're going to need both quarterbacks because they can't run the ball for shit average about two point eight yards per carry um donnie smith nice on defense he's got 10 sacks on the season he's an east Central Community College, signee. And, you know, it's just like somebody you might want to keep your eye on

if you have NFL-type prospects. They're going to be playing Alabama's other marquee team. Auburn? No, go to hell. Jacksonville State. That's right. Who's the most Alabama football coach in the world? Oh, surely it's Caleb Dabor who heads the crimson tide.

Go to hell again. No, it's Charles Kelly. That's right. Charles Kelly, late of FSU, who is from Phoenix City and he went to school and you follow. You don't get more Alabama than that. Um, he has 21 coaching lines on that resume, uh, which is not Brian Van Gorder level, but, uh, damn, if they ain't close, 21 different, uh, positions that he has held across college football. Unlike those heathens at Troy, this is good Christian football. By that, I mean they run the ball. They have over 3,000 yards. It's kind of a legacy of they're like Rich Rodriguez era that they've carried on because it works and you don't, you can't intercept the ball if I got it in my hands. From running. Yeah, Jack State.

Cam Cook is best G5 running back in the country, and their quarterback is also squirrelly as fuck. Absolutely obnoxious if you are a team rooting for the defense, perhaps. So Jason, it's interesting. It's interesting, you say that because I know that they're a good team because they defeated Kenneslaw State 3526 in the regular season. And I know that they're also a good. team because they lost to Kennesaw State in the Conference USA Championship game, which was

a thriller tight, no shame in losing that. So I've got double indicators on Jacksonville State not only winning this game, but just being outstanding quality overall. Yeah, I mean, and Troy made JMU work for it for a little bit. So I think this is a mighty fine weeknight opener. Yeah. And here is the list of things that you can do in Montgomery, Alabama, if you've gone there for the game. That's not true. It's a fine town. One this the the game where Ryan found like a double tree that you could get like four tickets to the game in a hotel room for $120

bucks. You can go to the river front where the the greatest fight in American history happened. When I was in town for Justin Ferguson's wedding, I went and paid homage at the riverfront

where yes, I found a chair exactly like the one used in the Montgomery Riverfront Brawl so if you're in town go pay your respects it's a lovely little town if you can find Justin on the day of the bowl

he has to give you a chaste kiss on the cheek no he has to give you a chair shot if you throw your hat in the air be ready a chair shot is known as a Montgomery kiss this is the only civil rights this is the only civil rights museum that nobody has tried to fuck up in the past 11 months so

it's a holy site yeah enjoy it well yeah it's more of a maybe it's more of a pilgrimage Enjoy Alabama's... It gives you strength. Enjoy Alabama's premier bowl game happening on the side of a former landfill.