Shane Beamer criticizes Bret Bielema, controversial Illinois substitution strategy in Cheez-It Bowl

Tensions spilled over during the second half of the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Tuesday afternoon, with South Carolina coach Shane Beamer going after Illinois coach Bret Bielema.

At first glance, Beamer appeared upset at Bielema intentionally signaling ‘substitution’ at him in the South Carolina huddle, and he exploded with rage. Only that wasn’t really the issue.

Shane Beamer addressed the situation with reporters after the game.

“It’s heated and competitive out there, but in all my years of being around football I’ve never seen an opposing head coach come over to the opposing team’s sideline and basically make a gesture towards the opposing head coach,” Beamer said. “And I think he was upset about something that we did on the kickoff return in regards to Juju (McDowell) on the throw-back to Nyck Harbor, but I would say that he needs to check the rulebook, because that’s something that we’ve cleared with the officials before the game.

“Disappointed. I have a lot of respect for him, he’s obviously done this for a long time. But in all my years of coaching I’ve never seen that happen. An opposing coach come over while his player’s hurt and basically have something to say. I’ve got my own team to worry about.”

The incident was kicked off when an Illinois player was down and injured near the South Carolina sideline late in the third quarter. Bielema had gone over to see how the player was doing, and after turning to walk back to his sideline, faced Beamer and the South Carolina huddle and made the signal a referee would to allow for substitutions.

It was apparently the same signal that McDowell had made on the kick return in question. To the casual viewer, it appeared that Bielema was taunting Beamer over his substitutions.

Shane Beamer had been running hot earlier in the game, seemingly upset with officiating. And then when Bret Bielema made his jab, Beamer momentarily lost his cool. Bielema had also made the substitution signal while walking over.

Beamer, after he cooled down some, yelled to sideline reporter Quint Kessenich: “You saw that.”

Throughout the game, Illinois had been subbing late in response to the Gamecocks and pushing South Carolina close to taking delay of games.

Seconds after the near-scuffle, South Carolina subbed late and Bret Bielema sent in an array of subs, causing Shane Beamer to use a timeout to avoid a delay of game in the low red zone.

The broadcast then showed both coaches, as Bielema sported a sly grin on the sideline opposite a ruffled Beamer.

On3’s Andrew Graham also contributed to this report.