Men's College World Series: Ole Miss leads Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge early in Omaha
The 2026 Men’s College World Series is officially here. But it won’t be the only heated competition in Omaha.
The Rocco’s Jello Shot Challenge is returning for its seventh year of pitting the wallets and livers of the MCWS fanbases against each other, with tens of thousands of Jell-O shots set to be sold in the coming week-and-a-half. The tradition goes back to 2019 and has escalated in recent years, with top SEC programs regularly leading the pack.
This year’s field consists of West Virginia, Troy, Ole Miss, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma, a field that figures to be competitive thanks to its litany of power programs.
Rocco’s Jello Shot Challenge leader on Day 1
A day before the games begin on Friday, Ole Miss already holds a sizable lead with 1,437 shots sold. That’s nearly 1,000 more than second-place West Virginia at 490. Bringing up the rear: Oklahoma at five.
Obviously, there is still plenty of competition to go.
The Jell-O shots are sold at $5 a pop, with $1.50 of that going to food banks associated with the eight participating institutions, in addition to a local organization. The contest has gone from a fun little event at Rocco’s Pizza and Cantina to a social media obsession, with multi-daily updates posted via dry-erase board.
The event has a correlation with the actual baseball being played as well. The past five winners of the Jello Shot Challenge also won the Men’s College World Series, including LSU last year with a two-game win over Coastal Carolina and 52,390 Jell-O shots sold.
That correlation can be explained by A) the final teams having more time to add to their score and B) every champion being an SEC team, as that conference in particular has taken both competitions quite seriously.
Past Rocco’s Jello Shot Challenge winners
2025: LSU, 52,390*
2024: Tennessee, 38,799*
2023: LSU, 68,888*
2022: Ole Miss: 18,777*
2021: Mississippi State, 2,965*
2020: N/A (COVIID-19)
2019: Arkansas, 864
* denotes a team that won the Men’s College World Series
