Baseball’s College World Series will start Friday in Omaha, with the NCAA’s eight best teams vying for a national championship. It’s one of the best events in sports and a traditional event on June’s sports calendar. However, there’s another competition that takes place in Omaha at the same time that’s becoming just as popular – Rocco’s Jello Shot Challenge.
For the uninitiated, Rocco’s Pizza & Cantina is located across the street from Charles Schwab Stadium, where the series takes place. Each year, they invite fans of the eight teams to come by and shoot their shot (or shots). The bar tracks shots purchased by each fan base and donates a portion of the proceeds to food pantries in the communities of the schools playing in the CWS. Last year, the challenge raised more than $145,000.
At BetMissouri, we could have sat down, studied the eight teams in the field and provided a detailed breakdown for Missouri sportsbooks of how the 2025 College World Series would play out, but you can find that anywhere. So, instead, we’ll break down each fan base and provide odds on which of them will win the 2025 Rocco’s Jello Shot Challenge.
These odds are for entertainment purposes only. They won't be available at any incoming Missouri betting apps, which can’t take bets anyway until Dec. 1, and don’t cross state lines in hopes of finding them either.
School |
Odds |
Percent Chance |
LSU |
-275 |
73.3% |
Arkansas |
+900 |
10.0% |
Louisville |
+2000 |
4.8% |
Arizona |
+2500 |
3.8% |
UCLA |
+4000 |
2.4% |
Coastal Carolina |
+4000 |
2.4% |
Oregon State |
+6000 |
1.6% |
Murray State |
+7500 |
1.3% |
To win the Jello shot challenge, it certainly helps to have a team likely to stay in Omaha for a while. LSU is currently listed as the +220 favorite at BetMGM Missouri to win the school’s eighth college baseball national title.
The Tigers last won it all two years ago, and that same year, the team’s fans downed 68,888 Jello shots. That’s the most ever consumed by a fan base during a College World Series, obliterating the record Ole Miss fans set the previous year with 18,777.
Will They Break Record? |
Odds |
Percent Chance |
Yes |
+170 |
37.0% |
No |
-170 |
63.0% |
Sure, it seems like an impossible task, but if LSU fans did it two years ago, then why can’t they do it again. LSU is the home of Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Shaquille O’Neal, Angel Reese, Paul Skenes and Livvy Dunne. It’s a school where champions have risen to the occasion time and time again. This is a “hold my beer” moment for Tiger Nation. Literally.
LSU fans have a reputation to uphold, and that reputation is not just limited to Omaha. Six years ago, when the Tigers played at Vanderbilt in an SEC football game, scores of LSU fans pre-gamed at a Nashville bar that opened at 9 am. In less than an hour, that bar ran out of vodka.
LSU and Arkansas happen to both be on the same side of the bracket for this year’s College World Series, so at least one of them will see their season end in the double-elimination bracket. Arkansas should be well represented in Omaha, and if the Razorbacks make it to the best-of-three final series, then chances are pretty good that they will come out on top.
The two SEC schools are ed by UCLA and Murray State. UCLA has a large fanbase, but it’s unlikely the Bruins will have the ability to compete with fans from Arkansas or LSU. (Murray State is a Cinderella, both as a baseball team and fanbase. It’s possible some locals might pick up their cause, but the Racers will have a better chance of winning the CWS than winning the Jello Shot Challenge.)
The other bracket includes three schools with College World Series title – Arizona, Coastal Carolina and Oregon State. Arizona and Oregon State have large statewide fan groups, so they have a shot should their teams stick around for a while. Coastal Carolina is a regional school, but its fans are based mostly in the Myrtle Beach area, so they probably have experience with Jello shots.
The other school is that bracket is Louisville. It’s not a state school, but it does have a large following for a city school. This will be the sixth time in less than 20 years the Cardinals have made it to Omaha, but this year was somewhat of a surprise given how the team struggled toward the end of the ACC season.
Yes, Louisville is better associated with bourbon, but Cardinal tailgaters enjoy their Jello shots, too. With this season being one of the best in recent memory for Louisville athletics for several reasons, Card Nation is likely to see Omaha as an end of the year celebration. That could mean a lot of red Jello getting served at Rocco’s.
USA Today photo by Steven Branscombe.
It’s a legendary College World Series tradition hosted by Rocco’s Pizza & Cantina in Omaha, where fans buy jello shots to their school. Each shot is tallied, creating a fun, competitive leaderboard with viral appeal.
LSU is the heavy favorite with odds at -275, translating to a 73.3% chance of winning—well ahead of rivals like Arkansas (+900) and Louisville (+2000).
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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