When Drew O’Connor and Madison Barnette celebrate their wedding anniversary every October for years to come, they’ll have the University of Mississippi to thank for it — in more ways than one.
Ole Miss helped O’Connor pull off a jaw-dropping, on-field proposal to surprise Barnette during a Rebels football game last season.
Barnette went onto the field in November thinking she was participating in a Planet Fitness promotion. She came off the field with an engagement ring and a fiancé.
The happy couple also has Ole Miss football to thank for their wedding being in October, and not September.
They initially booked their wedding venue for Sept. 19. When the SEC released its 2026 football schedule last winter, Barnette recognized a problem.
LSU at Mississippi,
Sept. 19.
Uh-oh.
For these two Ole Miss alumni, getting married in Magnolia, Texas, on the same day Lane Kiffin and rival LSU faced the Rebels in Oxford was a non-starter.
“This is our wedding, and I want it to be about me and Drew, not about people having their phones propped up against flower vases during the ceremony or during the reception,” Barnette, 22, told USA TODAY Sports before the LSU-Ole Miss game. “So I was like, ‘Nope, we’re changing it.’”
She emailed the venue coordinator: Was Oct. 3 available? That’s Ole Miss' bye date.
“Luckily, they had the date (available), or we probably would have moved venues,” Barnette said. “It was super important to me that we (got married) on a bye weekend.”
With Sept. 19 freed up on their schedule, O’Connor and Barnette traveled to Oxford to be with friends last weekend, when Ole Miss vanquished Kiffin and LSU, 32-24, on a night of euphoria for everyone wearing red and blue.
O’Connor and Barnette have history with Kiffin — even more so than your average Ole Miss fan.
What happened to that engagement photo Lane Kiffin photo bombed?
You might remember O’Connor and Barnette. Their engagement went viral, in no small part because of Kiffin. He photobombed the moment.
To refresh your memory, here’s how it all went down: O’Connor wanted to propose to Barnette during the The Citadel game last November. Ole Miss athletics and marketing staff agreed to help O’Connor, a former pole vaulter for the school's track team, pull off the shock proposal.
An Ole Miss staff member asked Barnette if she and O’Connor wanted to participate in a third-quarter contest. She’d hold the football, he’d attempt a field goal, and if the kick split the uprights, they’d come away with a gym membership.
That was all a ruse. Barnette kneeled to hold the ball. O’Connor never kicked it. Instead, he pulled out a ring, and next thing you know, he’s the one down on a knee.
Barnette’s jaw dropped. She said yes, of course.
As Barnette and O’Connor posed for photos, Kiffin entered the picture. Literally.
In a moment neither O’Connor nor Barnette saw coming, Kiffin came off the sideline and into the frame in an impromptu surprise. There’s the newly engaged couple, with Kiffin smiling next to them in an Ole Miss visor.
Three weeks later, Kiffin jetted off to rival LSU.
O’Connor and Barnette received a signed copy of the photo. As you could probably guess, that particular photo is not headed for the mantle.
“Currently, (those photos) are sitting in a folder in our office, not displayed,” Barnette said. “There will be a day that maybe we hang it up, but right now, it’s just about me and Drew and Ole Miss. Our loyalties are not with Lane Kiffin.”
As the bride-to-be put it: “Lane made the photo, but Ole Miss made the moment.”
Anyway, Pete Golding has the affection of Ole Miss fans now.
Saying "yes" became a chapter to an unforgettable senior year for Barnette. She got engaged, then attended the Ole Miss first-round playoff win against Tulane. That was a big moment on campus, but Golding endeared himself to fans further when his Rebels stunned Kirby Smart and Georgia in a Sugar Bowl upset that extended the team's playoff run to the semifinals. Last weekend’s takedown of Kiffin won’t hurt Golding’s street cred, either.
“I love his personality,” Barnette said of a coach who’s 5-1 since taking over for Kiffin. “I love how real and genuine he is. I can’t wait to see what he does with the program.”
An Ole Miss wedding on deck for October
Football and Ole Miss spirit form part of the backdrop to this couple’s story. They met at a tailgate in The Grove.
Since last November, O’Connor sees parallels between his relationship with Barnette and Ole Miss football.
“Since we got engaged, Madi and I’s relationship has changed so much for the better,” said O’Connor, 25, who works as a CPA. “We’re in the biggest change of our lives right now, and I think Ole Miss has kind of been in a similar spot."
“Coaches come and go," he added, "but realistically, the Ole Miss program is who we’re tied to and who we are faithful and loyal to.”
The stay-or-go Kiffin drama reached a fever pitch around Thanksgiving in what became a stressful, fretful, frenzied crucible for the program and Ole Miss fans.
For Barnette, the Kiffin soap opera was but a blip in the background.
“Honestly, I was more excited about the fact that I was engaged,” said Barnette, who graduated last spring and is working as a neuro nurse in Liberty, Missouri. “The coaching drama was off my mind. I was like, ‘If Lane leaves, whatever. I’m engaged.’”
Come October, O'Connor and Barnette will be married during Ole Miss' bye weekend, and it'll be just the two of them in the picture.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lane Kiffin crashed their proposal. Then his Ole Miss return changed their wedding
