College football was the backdrop for two couples’ commitment to each other Saturday, and Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin and ESPN’s “College GameDay” were there to help them celebrate.
In Oxford, Miss., Kiffin photobombed a couple seconds after a woman had accepted her boyfriend’s proposal on the field. More than 800 miles away in Lubbock, Texas, a viral couple made an appearance on ESPN a day after getting married — a ceremony they rescheduled just so they could join the “GameDay” throng.
Kiffin couldn’t help but join in the joyous moment. This is how it went down: During the third quarter of the Ole Miss Rebels’ 49-0 victory over The Citadel, former Ole Miss pole vaulter Drew O’Connor came out to kick a field goal with his girlfriend, Madison Barnette, teeing it up for him during a non-game-related field goal challenge.
O’Connor approached the ball as if he was going to kick it, but then stopped, brought out a ring, dropped to one knee and asked Barnette to marry him. She said yes, and the couple then posed for a photo. That’s when Kiffin ran over and joined in.
.@Lane_Kiffin wanted to congratulate a successful proposal during the game ❤️@OleMissFB pic.twitter.com/1QJYoWsP7O
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 8, 2025
After the game, Kiffin said he thought for a moment that maybe he had ruined it.
“I actually said after on the headset, maybe they were mad actually, maybe they were like, why did you come in here? But someone on the headset said, no, no, no, this is Mississippi, they liked it.”
Out in Lubbock, before No. 8 Texas Tech’s 29-7 win over No. 7 BYU, newlyweds Taylor Karrh and Rachael Lenhart made an appearance on “GameDay” after tying the knot the day before. They had gone viral earlier in the week when Karrh asked his social media friends to give him “1 million reposts” to convince Lenhart to move the wedding date up one day and allow them to attend the always raucous “GameDay” crowd.
Months ago, they had scheduled Nov. 8 for their ceremony, obviously having no way of knowing that their beloved Red Raiders would wind up on “GameDay” for a top-10 showdown with BYU.
It worked out perfectly. Karrh got his 1 million-plus reposts, the pair got hitched Friday, and they went to “GameDay” — and got on TV.
Wedding on Friday, GameDay on Saturday 💍🏈
The Karrhs tied the knot Friday… and their first stop as newlyweds? @CollegeGameDay in Lubbock‼️
🎤 @jess_sims pic.twitter.com/JDF4DNkN4K
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 8, 2025
“There were a lot of people calling us crazy for having a fall wedding. We wanted to prove to people you can have a fall wedding and attend ‘College GameDay,’” Karrh told ESPN’s Jessica Sims.
The couple then had to get from Dallas to Lubbock, a good 346 miles away, after the wedding ceremony ended near midnight.
“We moved heaven and earth, found a plane this morning and hopped on and got here,” Taylor Karrh said.