'There's a lot less mopping': How is the Jell-O Shot Challenge doing after LSU's record performance last year?

OMAHA, Nebraska — Things are just fine without LSU. The residents of north downtown Omaha are getting more sleep during this year’s Men’s College World Series without the sound of Zydeco blasting through their windows. And beer? There’s plenty to go around this summer, now that the defending national champion LSU baseball team didn’t make it to Omaha.

“There’s a lot less mopping this year than last year,” said Pat McEvoy, manager of Rocco’s Pizza and Cantina, which is located about 50 steps across the street from the MCWS. “It’s not nearly as boisterous, no.”

Rocco’s is the home of the “CWS Jell-O Shot Challenge,” and last summer, LSU made the event, and the establishment, famous. Tigers fans purchased 68,888 purple-and-gold Jell-O shots during the 2023 MCWS and turned Rocco’s into an 11-day party. They danced and drank when the leaderboards were updated four times a day, chanting “L-S-U.” They even brought a guy who played a trumpet.

It didn’t matter that last year wasn’t even a contest. Special “Jelleaux Shot Champion” T-shirts were made to commemorate the feat, even though LSU fans beat the second-place 2023 competitor, Wake Forest, by more than 60,000 Jell-O Shots.

Since 2019, fan bases from the eight teams in the MCWS have competed at Rocco’s over who can ingest the most shots, which are color-coded for each squad. Tennessee orange is back this year, and the Volunteers are No. 1 in the country. They’re also currently atop the Jell-O shot leaderboard with 11,592 and don’t look to be slowing down with the Vols in the championship series.

Rocco’s was bustling Wednesday afternoon with Tennessee fans lining up at the bar’s new Jell-O shot room. Scott Van Sant, a retired Air Force general and Volunteers fan, felt compelled to try a Jell-O shot because of all the scuttlebutt.

“I was a virgin until today,” Van Sant said. “I think it’s awesome.”

McEvoy said that as of Tuesday night, the overall numbers for the eight teams were on pace with last year’s totals. And it’s much more competitive, with Texas A&M not too far behind. But he concedes that last year’s total will be hard to top.

Todd Graves, CEO and founder of Raising Cane’s Chicken, bought 6,000 shots last year for the Tigers fanbase, and Baton Rouge attorney Gordon McKernan purchased 8,888.

“If Peyton Manning comes in championship weekend and decides he wants to do what Graves did …” McEvoy said, indicating anything is possible to surpass last year’s total.

LSU typically draws a legion of diehard baseball fans to Omaha regardless of whether their team makes it to the MCWS. McEvoy said he expected to see some of the Louisiana regulars, such as Tigers fan Bruce, and a threesome named Larry, Darryl and Darryl, though he figured that wasn’t their real names.

This year, with LSU out, some of their fans asked the bar about adding LSU to the shot leaderboard. But Rocco’s told them no, as it is reserved for MCWS qualifiers. If LSU fans were included, they thought, then the Nebraska fanbase would want in, too.

So Rocco’s encouraged Tigers fans to give money to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank instead. A QR code was set up for donations, and McEvoy said as of Wednesday afternoon, more than $7,000 had been raised.

The food bank was closed Wednesday for the Juneteenth holiday and unavailable for comment.

“Knowing LSU fans and our community, I would not be surprised if they outdo all other teams,” Mike Manning, president and CEO of the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, said in a release on the food bank’s website. “We take immense pride not only in our sports teams but also in making a difference.”

Each year, $1 of the $5 Jell-O shots goes to the schools’ local food bank. Rocco’s also donates another 50 cents of each shot to Omaha charities.

The night the LSU Tigers won the 2023 Men’s College World Series, McEvoy’s phone buzzed around 12:30 a.m. It was George Crews, father of LSU outfielder Dylan Crews. The party at the team hotel was winding down, and George and the Tigers, McEvoy said, wanted to throw down some Jell-O shots.

He put them in the party room, and the group imbibed in a couple hundred shots, McEvoy said. They smoked cigars — until management told them they couldn’t — and stayed until 2 o’clock in the morning.

“Then we had to kick them out,” he said. “We’re like, ‘Hey, we love you, but, you know, this isn’t Baton Rouge.'”