By Chris Marler
Fireworks were rampant during the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Years Eve, and not just after the game or post-touchdown scores from either team.
Late in the third quarter, Illinois coach Bret Bielema walked across the field to tend to an injured player and signaled something to the South Carolina team and staff. Shane Beamer took it personally.
COACH BOWL BEEF BETWEEN SHANE BEAMER AND BRET BIELEMA
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) December 31, 2024
Beamer thought Bielema was mocking him with the referee signal for the substitution rule. It was a rule that Bielema was taking advantage of throughout the game during substitution changes by South Carolina. He then flashed the signal again towards South Carolina’s sideline on his walk back.
On Friday, he provided some clarity as to what he was actually doing.
“When I made the decision, I was walking over to tend to our player,” Bielema said. “It wasn’t pre-meditated, it wasn’t thought out. But I’m walking over there and I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m getting pretty close to the sideline. I’m gonna give the T-sign because I want the staff and those players to know I know what happened.’ Just the competitive part of me. That’s what I did.
“In retrospect, I probably could’ve said it to the coach individually after the game. But I was competitive, I wanted to win the game and thankfully, I think it changed the energy in the entire stadium, and it happened. It wasn’t anything about substitution.”
Shane Beamer has yet to address the clarification and was very heated still after the game during his press conference with the media. He even went so far as to call the substitutions throughout the game as “bush league.”
Illinois beat South Carolina, 21-17.
