Not a bad gig.
There’s no doubt that Ole Miss fans are happy today after taking down LSU and their former coach, Lane Kiffin, in his highly-anticipated return to Oxford. But one fan is feeling especially good today after making over $18,000 – all thanks to a piece of poster board and a couple hours of work.
The eyes of the college football world were on Oxford yesterday, with former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin back for the first time since his controversial exit for Baton Rouge last November. Excitement for the game, which featured two teams ranked in the top 10, was already through the roof, but throw in the Lane Kiffin hatred from Ole Miss fans and the whole thing was just a powder keg ready to explode.
Luckily for Ole Miss, the Rebels jumped out to an early lead that probably kept the crowd from getting out of hand. And though LSU managed to come back to tie the game in the fourth quarter after being down 24-7 at halftime, quarterback Trinidad Chambliss led his team down the field to score a touchdown and a gutsy two point conversion to score with 6 minutes left in the game, while the Ole Miss defense kept the Tigers out of the endzone for an incredible 32-24 win to spoil Lane Kiffin’s homecoming.
While it was a great day for all Ole Miss fans, the winning got started early for one guy in particular. ESPN’s College GameDay was obviously broadcasting from Oxford yesterday morning, and while there were plenty of signs making fun of their former coach, one kid decided to forego the trash talking and try to use the opportunity to make some money instead.
For much of the broadcast, a sign was visible that featured the kid’s Venmo handle while asking for money for tickets and beer:
And it’s safe to say it worked: After the show ended, the kid showed off his Venmo account that now contained more than $18,000 – including donations from fans around the country.
Some of the messages on his Venmo are from Ole Miss fans, while there are plenty LSU fans who were trash talking him before the game, and some from fans of other teams too:
“Hope your team did better than mine today! – College Station, TX”
“Cheers from the graphics guy on ESPN”
“Enjoy the beer from a Buckeye!”
“Make bad decisions with this – Dawgs fan”
Of course this isn’t the first time a college kid has gone viral and raised a ton of money thanks to his sign at College GameDay. Back in 2019, an Iowa State fan named Carson King held up a sign saying that his Busch Light supply needed replenished, but after he quickly raised hundreds of dollars, King announced that he would be keeping enough for a case of beer and donating the rest to the Iowa children’s hospital.
The gesture quickly caught the attention of Busch Light and several other companies, leading Carson to raise over $3 million for the worthy cause (the children’s hospital, not his beer fund).
College GameDay has seemed to crack down on these Venmo signs the past few years, but I guess this guy at Ole Miss managed to slip one through and cash in. And now, something tells me we’ll be seeing this a lot more on Saturdays this year.
