Shane Beamer calls Bret Bielema display in Cheez-It Citrus Bowl 'bush league' and 'total bullcrap'

Much has been made already of the flare-up in the Cheez-It Bowl between South Carolina coach Shane Beamer and Illinois coach Bret Bielema, but it’s clear the wound is still fresh for Beamer.

Beamer joined the Inside the Gamecocks: The Morning Show this week and continued to reiterate his frustration with Bielema.

The incident started when Bielema took exception to a T-bar gesture by a Gamecocks return man on a kickoff, with his Illinois team taking it to mean the returner was signaling for a fair catch. Bielema thought the tactic was intentionally confusing and a distortion of the rules.

He let Beamer know he was displeased by mimicking the gesture multiple times as he tended to an injured player near the South Carolina sideline.

“I saw some of his comments after the game about it’s a safety issue and ethical, and I thought that was complete, total bullcrap,” Beamer said. “As a special teams coach we’ve never, one, told our players on a kickoff team to watch the returner and if he puts his arms out to quit running. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Like you play through the whistle.”

Instead, fans of both teams were treated to a bowing-up of sorts between Bielema and Beamer. First, Bielema did his gesture. Then Beamer reacted by remonstrating on the sideline, needing to be held back.

The South Carolina head coach admitted he needed to keep his feelings in check a little better, but he continued to defend his reaction.

He’s apparently gotten a lot of commentary on it, from some unlikely sources too.

“I didn’t like the way it looked. I didn’t,” Beamer said. “But I do appreciate the amount of people that have come up to me in public or texted me after the game or called me after the game saying, ‘What you did was right. Man, I wasn’t a Gamecock before but I am now.’ Whether it be athletic directors across college athletics or former coaches that are in the College Football Hall of Fame or current coaches that were in the College Football Playoff this year, or Florida Gator fans or Tennessee Vol fans or whatever. I appreciate that.

“Wish it hadn’t happened, but it is what it is and I’m always going to have the backs of our players and our sidelines, and I just thought that was bush league what he did to our sideline. And I’ve told him the same thing after the game, as well. It’s disappointing, but credit to them, they won the game. And more motivation for us as we head into 2025.”

Beamer also clarified that he wasn’t about to escalate things any further during the game, despite how it looked.

“It wasn’t like I was going to run out there to midfield and we were going to have a brawl at the 50-yard line,” Beamer said. “I wasn’t losing my mind from that standpoint. But really just, ‘Hey, what’s your deal?’ and ‘If there’s a problem come talk to me about it.’ Don’t do that. Because what we did was legal and what we did we cleared with the officials before the game.”