Shane Beamer comes unglued as Bret Bielema taunts him with substitution gesture

The supposed lack of meaning of the 2024 bowl season did not make it to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando on Tuesday, when things got heated between No. 20 Illinois and No. 15 South Carolina and, more specifically, between their two head coaches.

Throughout the game, Illinois successfully used late substitutions to stymie South Carolina's offense, to Shane Beamer's great frustration. This clip is a good summary.

Late in the third quarter -- before the clip above, incidentally -- Bret Bielema came to attend to an injured Fighting Illini player near South Carolina's sideline and, well, you can't miss it.

ESPN's rules analyst Bill LeMonnier argued Bielema should have been flagged for taunting for the gesture. He was not.

And while South Carolina eventually scored on the above drive, Illinois ultimately won the game. The Illini forced Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers to throw incomplete in the end zone on 4th-and-4 from the 7-yard line with 3:03 remaining and never fave the ball back.

The post-game handshake passed without incident, but Beamer had this to say after the game.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for him, and have my own team to worry about, but in all my years of football I’ve never seen an opposing team’s coach come over to the other sideline and make a gesture toward the other coach," he said afterward. 

Bielema has not commented as of press time, because he's currently covered in Cheez-Its. God bless college football. 

Update: Here's Bielema's explanation, which stems from a kickoff return from the first half. "I didn't just do it to him, I did it to the whole damn sideline."

Wednesday morning update>

These two are still acting exactly how you would expect them to be. Art imitating life. Life imitating art.