Jell-O Shot Challenge Origin Story: OutKick Ventured Into Belly Of The Gelatin Giant At Rocco's On Final Day Of The Fun

OMAHA, Nebraska - They all flock to Rocco's Pizza & Cantina like it's an oasis in the desert.

But this is no mirage, and they keep coming from Texas, California, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arizona, Alabama, Florida and, especially, Louisiana.

Rocco's says, "Give me your fanatical, your rich and poor, your huddled masses before football season, yearning to breathe free of humidity and drink Jell-O."

And lots of it.

And they keep coming to 1302 Mike Fahey Street at the corner of 13th Street, just steps from Charles Schwab Field, home of the College World Series since 2011.

No. 2 seed Florida (54-16) plays No. 5 seed LSU (53-17) for the national title Monday (7 p.m., ESPN) in the finale of the best-of-three title series.

The Gators got in many more shots Sunday in as 24-4 win. LSU won the opener Saturday, 4-3.

LSU took a lead that can't be caught over a week ago in the Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge by a landslide with 57,387 shots downed as of 2 p.m. Monday. Florida is in fourth at 3,948 behind No. 2 Wake Forest at 7,622 and TCU at 7,067.

And LSU people keep coming to Rocco's.

Olivia Dunne, LSU gymnast and social media mega starlet, dropped in last week.

LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne at a meet last February on Dale Brown Court at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by John Korduner via Getty Images)

"She was here, but she didn't have a shot because she's not old enough," Rocco's manager Pat McEvoy said Monday afternoon. "And that's all I'm saying."

Dunne is 20. The drinking age in Nebraska is 21. But this is Jell-O, though the two-ounce delicacies come with a half ounce of vodka for $5 apiece.

Former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow was here over the weekend.

"I'm not sure if he had a shot or not," McEvoy said.

LSU football coach Brian Kelly was here over the weekend.

"He had a Coors Light and a shot," McEvoy said.

Jell-O Shot Challenge standings at Rocco's Pizza & Cantina as of 2 p.m. Monday across the street from Charles Schwab Field, home of the College World Series since 2011 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo By OutKick's Glenn Guilbeau).

Even without the 6,000 shots purchased by Raising Cane's chicken magnate Todd Graves, the 6,001 shots paid for by restaurateur Shane Morrison or the 8,888 gotten by Baton Rouge attorney and LSU's NIL provider Gordon "Get Gordon" McKernan, LSU would still be at 36,498 common man shots. The previous record set by CWS champion Ole Miss last season was only 18,777.

"It's pretty simple," McEvoy, an Omaha native, said. "LSU has always brought the most fans. And they're partiers. They just love Omaha, and Omaha loves them back. Because LSU has been coming to the World Series for so long (19 trips since 1986), they know Omaha blindfolded. I'm sure they could make the 15-hour drive from Baton Rouge blindfolded."

And many of their fans drink until they're about blind. Sorry.

LSU Fans Come To Omaha To Party

"Everybody knows the LSU fans like to drink," an elderly Uber driver said Monday afternoon. "But ever since they've been coming here since way back, they are the nicest, friendliest people you would ever want to meet."

The Jell-O Shot Challenge, though, did not start with LSU in mind. That has just become a lucrative fringe benefit.

When the CWS moved from Rosenblatt Stadium to TD Ameritrade Park (name changed to Charles Schwab at 2022 CWS) before the 2011 World Series, the area around the stadium had basically nothing but abandoned buildings a mattress store.

College World Series Move Gave Birth To Rocco's

The site of Rocco's opened as Goodnight's in 2010 and became Rocco's in 2018 after Kevin and wife Bonnie Culjat bought it. Shots were served at both places as most all bars everywhere do. But Culjat decided to focus on Jell-O shots because they were easier to move fast in the small paper cups.

Then in 2019, McEvoy came up with the "Jell-O Shot Challenge" name and the scoreboard.

Things started slow, though. Basically you had to be there. If you didn't happen to go to Rocco's, you didn't know about the contest.

Arkansas won the first Jell-O Shot Challenge with a mere 864 shots. That's a good half hour for LSU nowadays and nights. There was no CWS in 2020 because of COVID. Mississippi State won the national championship in 2021 with just 2,965 shots.

Then before the 2022 CWS, McEvoy had another idea. Put the challenge on Twitter at @CWSShotBoard.

"I had 17 followers when I first started," McEvoy said. "Mostly friends and family. By the time the World Series was playing, we had 17,000."

And the rest is history.

"I remember when we started in 2019, I said, 'Maybe, somebody will hit 1,000 shots one day,'" McEvoy said. "When Mississippi State got to 2,965 in 2021, I thought, 'Wow, we got something here.' We just needed to get the word out."

They did, and they refined their game. They hired a company called Jevo that specializes in mass production of Jell-O shots, and that increased the speed at which voluminous shots can be concocted.

Rocco's Pizza & Cantina serves food, but their specialty during the College World Series every summer is mass production of Jell-O Shots. (Photo By OutKick's Glenn Guilbeau).

The Culjats refined it more when the began donating large portions of their income from Jell-O shots to the Heartland Food Bank in Omaha. And after each CWS, they send checks to the various schools in the CWS matching the total number of shots purchased at $5 apiece.

"I never thought it would become this big," said McEvoy, who is looking into a patent for the term, "Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge."

But it is always bigger with LSU.

"We were having a going away party for one of our employees during the Super Regionals two weeks ago," McEvoy said. "I was at it, but I was watching LSU and Kentucky. They kept trying to get me to join the party, and I kept saying, 'Nope, nope, nope.' I was literally locked into that game pulling for the Tigers. LSU coming here is the difference between a good couple of weeks and the place going crazy. When LSU got here for the first time since 2017, I knew it would get absolutely out of hand."

LSU fans Mandy Poche and her husband Josh Poche (right) of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, and friend Will Lafranca of New Orleans before Monday's CWS game at Rocco's near Charles Schwab Field. (Photo By OutKick's Glenn Guilbeau).

LSU fan Mandy Poche laughed at the Ole Miss record from last year before she and her husband Josh Poche of Ponchatoula arrived in Omaha.

"We knew we would triple that," she said.

"There was no way we weren't blowing that away," Josh said. "We had people sending us money on Venmo, so we could take a shot for them. They just wanted to be a part of it."

Mandy is an artist who does the official poster for the annual Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula and will be doing a poster depicting the Rocco's shot craze soon.

"Why does LSU dominate this? I think it's part of our fan culture," Lafranca said. "Go look at the LSU campus on a football Saturday. It's food and drink everywhere. That's just how we celebrate. For us, tailgating and drinking just go hand in hand."

And mouth.