Fierce competition between Ole Miss and Arkansas fans at CWS Jell-O shot challenge

OMAHA — The fiercest competitors on the Faculty World Sequence simply is perhaps the Jell-O shot problem at Rocco’s Pizza and Cantina.

The restaurant, situated at thirteenth and Mike Fahey streets simply throughout from Charles Schwab Area, has been entertaining CWS followers for greater than a decade. For the previous six years, they’ve hosted some variation of the CWS Jell-O shot problem: For each shot ordered, your crew will get a degree.

Final 12 months, a report was set by Mississippi State: Followers ordered 2,965 Jell-O pictures through the collection.

On Sunday evening — simply three days in — that report was shattered by the College of Arkansas followers who had already consumed 50% greater than all of final 12 months’s collection.

And by Monday afternoon, CWS followers had ordered a complete of 11,130 Jell-O pictures, a frozen combination of Jell-O and vodka coloured to match every crew, at $4.50 a pop.

That’s greater than $50,000 in income for Rocco’s— and there’s nonetheless not less than six days left within the collection. Patrons say that the aggressive spirit is well worth the steep worth for a prepackaged Jell-O shot.

“It’s completely genius advertising,” mentioned Tyler Johnson, an Ole Miss fan from Jackson, Mississippi. “They’re making hundreds off of us — however everyone loves competitors.”

This 12 months, the competitors is fierce. Arkansas is barely hanging on to its lead over Mississippi: On the newest depend on Monday, Ole Miss netted 4,579 pictures to Arkansas’ 4,644. No different crew comes near these numbers, with Texas A&M a distant third at 585 pictures.

Huge spenders shopping for a whole bunch of pictures at a time have upped the ante this 12 months. A consultant from Banded Manufacturers, a searching gear model based mostly in Arkansas, purchased 500 pictures on Monday afternoon. In response, Tyler Jordan of Realtree, one other searching and camouflage model, put 900 pictures towards Mississippi’s complete.

Decided to not be outdone, Banded Manufacturers positioned one other order for 1,000 pictures — $4,500 value — throughout the hour. That led to many patrons on Monday evening consuming without spending a dime.

“It’s positively an all-time report right here,” mentioned Kevin Culjat, the proprietor of Rocco’s and the neighboring Lefty’s Bar. “It’s superior. Now we have folks attempting to Venmo us, attempting to name in orders, however we’re simply too busy.”

Certainly, followers packed into Rocco’s like sardines on Monday, with a line almost out the door to get to the bar and order pictures forward of the 6 p.m. sport. The gang was particularly energized forward of the matchup between Ole Miss and Arkansas.

“We’d not win all of it, however we’re positively going to win this,” mentioned Corey Garnette, an Arkansas fan from Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Followers can observe together with the newest numbers on the CWS Jello Shot Challenge Twitter account, which has amassed almost 12,000 followers in lower than two weeks.