An Ole Miss student thought she was participating in an in-game promotion. It became a surprise proposal.
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Best-case scenario, Madison Barnette thought she and her beau Drew O’Connor would walk away with a Planet Fitness membership card and a memory at Vaught Hemingway Stadium.
Worst-case scenario, O’Connor would miss the field goal during the in-game promotion in front of thousands of Mississippi fans.
Then came the plot twist Barnette hadn’t seen coming.
The kick contest was all a ruse.
With the help of Ole Miss athletics and marketing staff, O’Connor had arranged a surprise proposal, under the guise of a field-goal promotion.
Barnette kneeled and held the football, thinking O’Connor was about to attempt a 25-yard field goal, before he suddenly changed course and shocked her by popping the question.
She said yes.
Forget the gym membership. Barnette exited the field with the real prize.
“A lifetime membership with my best friend,” Barnette, 21, the newly engaged senior Ole Miss nursing student, told USA TODAY.
The story doesn’t end there.
As an Ole Miss photographer snapped photos of the happy couple on the field, coach Lane Kiffin raced over from the sideline and hopped in the picture. Frame that photo. There’s Kiffin, smiling during a game break, alongside the overjoyed couple.
Truly, an only-in-college-football moment.
Ole Miss couple met in the Grove, got engaged at the Vaught
Barnette and O’Connor met at a tailgate in the Grove last fall. They went on their first date in January. By August, they were ring shopping.
“When you know you know,” Barnette said. “When you know that God has intentionally placed someone in your life for a reason, there’s no hesitancy to join that covenant.”
O’Connor didn’t purchase the ring when the couple shopped together, and Barnette didn’t know he’d bought a ring. Certainly, she didn’t expect a proposal to come during an Ole Miss game against The Citadel. Maybe, she thought, he’d propose during the holiday season.
O’Connor, 24, earned his master’s degree from Ole Miss, where he was a pole vaulter on the track team.
Considering where and how the couple met and Barnette’s affection for Ole Miss football, O’Connor decided to go big with an on-field proposal.
“I wanted to propose to Madison at a place that mattered to both of us, and Ole Miss completely changed both of our lives for the better,” said O’Connor, who will start work at a Missouri accounting firm in January. “It just kind of made sense for me to at least give it my best effort to make it such a special day.”
He brought the idea to Ole Miss, which jumped on board.
“Trust me, I had the easy role,’ O’Connor said. ‘Their behind-the-scenes coordination was super impressive.’
Field goal turns into a proposal, with congrats from Lane Kiffin
As a former athlete, O’Connor is allowed to go onto the field before football games. That’s where his plan shifted into gear.
An Ole Miss staff member asked Barnette if she and O’Connor wanted to participate in a third-quarter contest. She’d be the holder, he’d be the kicker, and they’d need to convert a short field goal for a prize from Planet Fitness. She figured, sure, why not?
Barnette and O’Connor went down to the sideline to get ready for the contest during the third quarter. Some Ole Miss staffers helped sell the plot by giving Barnette tips on how to hold the ball for the kick. Index finger on top of the ball, and laces out, toward the goal posts. She practiced a bit on the sideline.
O’Connor had given the ring to Ole Miss earlier in the week, so he wouldn’t have any issues getting it through security. When he and Barnette took the field, an Ole Miss staffer passed O’Connor the ring. Barnette didn’t see the exchange, but the crowd noticed and began to cheer.
Barnette focused on doing her part, so O’Connor wouldn’t miss what she thought was about to be a prize-winning kick.
“I really was hoping he was going to make the field goal,” Barnette said. “I just think, if he had missed the kick, that would be a little embarrassing, especially in front of the whole stadium. So, I was a little nervous for him, but he was so confident. He sold it really well.”
O’Connor played on his high school football team. Could he have made the 25-yard kick?
Barnette wondered that, too.
“I asked him after the fact, ‘Do you think you could have made that?’’ Barnette said. ‘He was like, ‘Yeah, but it wasn’t about that.”
Instead of kicking the field goal, O’Connor grabbed Barnette’s left hand she’d been using to hold the football, and she got to her feet. He reached into his back pocket, pulled out the ring and dropped to one knee, as Barnette’s jaw dropped.
Surprise.
Never mind the kick. O’Connor had executed the proposal perfectly.
“When she said yes, I felt like the luckiest man alive,” O’Connor said.
As Barnette and O’Connor posed for photos, Kiffin couldn’t help himself. With his Rebels routing The Citadel, Kiffin had a moment to spare. He popped over to join in the fuss on the field.
Caught up in the moment, it took Barnette and O’Connor a moment to realize: Hey, Lane Kiffin has entered the frame.
Kiffin told reporters later he hoped he hadn’t improperly intruded on their moment. No worries on that.
“I absolutely loved it,” Barnette said of Kiffin joining the Polaroid moment. “I’m a big fan of Ole Miss football, Ole Miss athletics, and I think that’s why Drew knew this would be a perfect proposal for me.”
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.