Florida Gators are up against LSU and the Jello Shot Challenge in CWS finals. Here's why
The Florida Gators play the LSU Tigers in the Men's College World Series final to decide the 2023 NCAA baseball champion.
If you listen to certain college baseball fans, the winner has already been determined. And not because of what either team has done on the field.
Nope, LSU fans may have already delivered the title to their Tigers through their performance at the Jello Shot Challenge, one of the most popular new traditions in college sports. Fans from all eight teams competing in the MCWS flood Rocco's Pizza and Cantina near Charles Schwab Field Omaha to buy drinks in friendly competition.
And the team atop the Shot Board at the end of the tournament has recently correlated with the team holding the trophy.
What is the Jello Shot Challenge?
Rocco's started the challenge in 2016. Fans from the eight teams playing in the season-ending College World Series come to the eatery and buy a jello shot ($5 this year). The dive bar keeps tabs on its Shot Board of which team's fans have bought the most as the tournament goes along, and baseball fans watching from afar can follow on the CWS Shot Board Twitter account.
Proceeds from the challenge go to food banks in each team's hometown as well as the Food Bank for the Heartland in Omaha.
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What is the jello shot record for CWS?
Ole Miss set the record in 2022 with 18,777. LSU broke that mark on June 19, with a week of games left to be played.
Records are meant to be broken! All time team total ✅ All time overall total ✅ Guinness Book of World Record for shots purchased by one person ✅. @ToddGraves head fry cook from @raisingcanes out here supporting @LSUbaseball. Congrats on the new record. #RoccosOmaha #Cws2023 pic.twitter.com/jKi2aWEj4S
— CWS Jello Shot Challenge (@CWSShotBoard) June 19, 2023
How many jello shots does LSU have?
As of Thursday night, LSU's mark was 29,023. For comparison, last year Rocco's sold 31,215 shots throughout the entire College World Series.
How did the Tigers smash the record so thoroughly? They got a lot of help from Todd Graves, founder of Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers and LSU booster, who bought 6,000 shots at once.
Records were meant to be broken! 6,000 Jello Shots for @LSUBaseball fans @Roccos_Omaha to set the new record! Fun fact: This also breaks the round of shots world record Merle Haggard set in 1983 when he bought 5,095 shots for the entire bar @billybobstexas ! #Geauxmaha pic.twitter.com/ZxI6UNWkAM
— Todd Graves (@ToddGraves) June 19, 2023
How many jello shots does Florida have?
As of Thursday night, Gators fans have racked up 2,371 shots. That's better than SEC rival Tennessee, but still in fifth place behind LSU, Wake Forest, TCU and even Oral Roberts.
Well that changes things! If you leave Baton Rouge right now you can probably make it for the 1pm update tomorrow. @GatorsBB and @LSUbaseball should be a fantastic final! Let's go! #cws2023 #RoccosOmaha pic.twitter.com/ebaRIAha2Z
— CWS Jello Shot Challenge (@CWSShotBoard) June 23, 2023
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How many Jello Shot Challenge winners also won the College World Series?
It's happened the past two years. Ole Miss beat Oklahoma in two games to win its first baseball championship after Rebels fans bought a then-record 18,777 jello shots.
In 2021, Mississippi State won two out of three against Vanderbilt to claim its first title. Bulldogs fans also won the jello shot crown with 2,965: a number that looked a lot more impressive at the time.
Florida fans are hoping to channel the 2019 Vanderbilt team that fell short of Arkansas in the Jello Shot Challenge but still won the national title.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Jello Shot Challenge suggests Florida baseball is in trouble vs. LSU
