Photos from Ole Miss’s sideline on Saturday took off fast, and the reason had nothing to do with the score alone. ESPN host Pat McAfee was shown standing next to a young woman during the Rebels’ game against LSU, and social media quickly started trying to figure out who she was.
The answer circles back to a messy story from last year: the woman is Mary Kate Cornett, the Ole Miss student who was at the center of a false rumor McAfee previously helped spread.
That rumor began with an anonymous post that falsely claimed Cornett hooked up with her boyfriend’s father in February 2025. It spread quickly online and then snowballed into manipulated photos and harassment aimed at Cornett.
McAfee talked about the rumor on his show that same month without naming her directly. In July 2025, he issued a public apology and said, “I have since learned that the story was not true and that my show played a role in the anguish caused,”
Cornett responded by hiring an attorney and threatening legal action against McAfee, saying she was “not a public figure that you can go talk about.” Her family’s attorney later said the matter had been resolved outside of court.
The sideline photos gained even more traction because Saturday’s game already had a charged feel to it. Ole Miss beat LSU 32-24, and the final moments turned tense when Rebels defensive lineman Suntarine Perkins silently confronted LSU coach Lane Kiffin during the postgame handshake line.
That backdrop helped fuel the online reaction once the McAfee-Cornett images started circulating. Ole Miss and LSU have become one of college football’s more heated matchups over the past year, and Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU only added to the attention around the broadcast.
With more cameras trained on the sideline than usual, the photos spread quickly and fans began speculating almost immediately, especially because of the history between McAfee and Cornett. One post even referenced the earlier legal threat, adding to the confusion.
Neither McAfee nor Cornett has publicly explained why they were together on the sideline. For now, that has left fans to do the guessing on their own.
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Chambliss also had a message for anyone still sizing up the Rebels after the game. He said Ole Miss is here to compete, a confidence that fit the way he played when the pressure was at its highest. For LSU, it was the kind of loss that leaves a sting because the early deficit made the comeback chase so difficult, and because the opposing quarterback sounded anything but surprised by the stage. [Read more 🡒]