College Football

Illinois HC Bret Bielema taunts South Carolina’s Shane Beamer in eventful Cheez-It Bowl

Updated Jan. 2, 2025 12:53 p.m. ET

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The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl was full of salty, yet savory moments Tuesday, including an unexpected late third-quarter squabble between Illinois head coach Bret Bielema and South Carolina HC Shane Beamer that sent the game into a frenzy.

Here's how it went down.

The No. 15 Gamecocks and the No. 20 Fighting Illini were in a tight, 14-10 battle with just under two minutes left in the third when defensive back Jaheim Clarke went down. 

Bielema headed onto the field to check on his injured player, and upon his return to the Illinois sideline, surprisingly, decided to taunt the South Carolina squad.

The 2006 Big Ten Coach of the Year lifted his arms in an apparent substitution signal, but kept motioning the gesture to the Gamecocks' huddle and sideline. After a couple of gestures too many, South Carolina's Beamer decided enough was enough and made his way onto the field.

The visibly irritated 47-year-old coach began walking toward Bielema, and had to be held back by his coaching staff. After a few seconds of yelling, Beamer returned to his sideline.

"There's an unwritten philosophy in coaching when you do [the substitution gesture] as a college kickoff return guy," Bielema said after the game, "what we're doing is you telling everyone else that it is going to be a fair catch, and it's going to be dead at the end zone. The reason we do that is – kickoff and kickoff returns is the highest percentage of injury in the sport. So one of the things that coaches began to do is everybody out of respect started T-barring [signaling]. Everybody does that. I've never seen it any other way."

While the 2024 SEC Coach of the Year could be seen furiously trying to put his headset back on to get back in the game, video showed Bielema smirking on his sideline, which just added more fuel to the fire.

Beamer could be seen making his case to the officials, but no penalties were called.

Both sidelines began motioning to the crowd at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, which got fans riled up, and finally play resumed on the field.

The Fighting Illini went on to pull out the 21-17 win, and the two coaches shared a relatively amicable handshake afterward. However, Beamer made some pointed comments about Bielema's actions in his postgame presser. 

"I thought that was bush league, to be honest," Beamer said, according to The Post and Courier. "I thought that was uncalled for. Especially when his own player's on the ground, hurt."

Both coaches confirmed the issue stemmed from a moment earlier in the third quarter, when South Carolina's kick returner signaled like he wouldn't field the ball but did and then attempted a lateral. Beamer said he got the OK from the officials before the game, as long as the returner didn't act like he was trying to fair-catch the ball. 

The SEC-Big Ten clash was one of several bowl games on Tuesday, but between a Cheez-It wedding on the field, the Cheez-It mascot being kicked for a field goal and this heated coaches confrontation, it will definitely go down as one to remember.

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CFB - Citrus Bowl - 12/31/2024

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