South Carolina coach Shane Beamer had seen enough from his taunting Illinois counterpart and lost it.
The wild scene occurred after Illinois cornerback Jaheim Clarke was injured tackling South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday.
Illinois coach Bret Bielema walked across the field to check on Sellers, then held his arms out wide until Beamer and the Gamecocks sideline saw him.
“In all my years of coaching, I’ve never seen that happen,” Beamer told reporters after his South Carolina squad’s 21-17 loss.
Bielema also got the last laugh as Illinois came away with the win to finish 10-3 as South Carolina ended its season with a 9-4 mark.
After tiring at his mocking Illinois counterpart, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer lost it.
At Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, during the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, Illinois cornerback Jaheim Clarke was hurt while tackling South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers. This led to the crazy scene. on Tuesday. .
After crossing the field to see how Sellers was doing, Illinois coach Bret Bielema held his arms out in front of him until Beamer and the Gamecocks sideline could see him.
The taunting soon infuriated Beamer, who rushed out onto the field to find Bielema.
Both the referees and Beamer’s staff had to physically restrain him. At one point, Beamer yelled at Bielema and turned around before heading back to the fervent sideline.
After his South Carolina team’s 21-17 defeat, Beamer told reporters, “I’ve never seen that happen in all my years of coaching.”. When his player is injured, the opposing coach approaches and essentially speaks to him. “”.
Following the game, both coaches affirmed that the argument stemmed from a signal made by South Carolina’s kick returners during a third-quarter kickoff.
Typically, when a player makes the arms-out signal, he lets the ball pass over his head and doesn’t return it.
However, the Gamecocks attempted a lateral play after fielding the kick, which resulted in a tackle at the 25.
Beamer informed reporters that he had discussed the use of that signal with the Big 12 officiating staff prior to the game and that it was acceptable as long as the returners did not indicate a fair catch with their arms.
“You need to ask him why he didn’t bring it up with the officials and why he felt the need to come over here when his player was on the ground and look at me and say something to me and make that gesture to me as if I was full of you know what to do,” Beamer stated. That’s what I’m having trouble with. When someone does that to me, I’ll respond because I consider that to be bush league and I’m a competitive person. “”.
Although it was legal, Bielema claimed that returning the kick went against the idea of using that signal to reduce injuries during kickoff returns.
Bielema remarked, “He thought I did it to him, so the ethic of what that is got evaporated there because our kids stopped running.”. I made that gesture to the entire dam sideline because I wanted them to know what had just transpired. “”.
A few plays later, Bielema defeated Beamer by substituting late and forcing South Carolina to use a timeout; it’s unclear if the excitement from the incident carried over. The final laugh went to Bielema as well, as Illinois defeated South Carolina 10-3 to finish the season with a 9-4 record.
