‘Bush league’ by Illinois or unethical by USC? Beamer, Beliema break down bowl game spat

It happened quickly. One motion, two fists extend out, and everything went haywire.

With just a few seconds left in the third quarter, No. 15 South Carolina was a few yards away from taking the lead back in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl against No. 22 Illinois. LaNorris Sellers had just thrown a 60-yard pass to Dalevon Campbell. And a Fighting Illini player fell to a knee on the field.

At first, it was a prolonged injury timeout. Illinois head coach Bret Bielema walked over to his player, glanced over at him, then extended his arms out toward the USC sideline in what the Illini leader described as a “T-bar” gesture.

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer quickly got angry.

“Why he felt the need to come over here while his player was on the ground and look at me and say something to me and do that motion, like I was full of you-know-what. That’s what I had an issue with,” Beamer said. “I’m a competitive guy, and somebody says that to me, I’m going to respond, because I thought that was pretty bush league, to be completely honest.”

The Gamecocks’ coach stormed toward Bielema yelling, before a few of Beamer’s assistant coaches pulled him backward to the South Carolina sideline. The game resumed a few moments later.

“I thought that was uncalled for,” Beamer said. “Especially with his player down.”

Beamer and Beliema agreed on this: The intersection of frustrated coaches came from the special teams sequence where the Gamecocks threw a lateral pass in the end zone during a kickoff return. The play resulted in South Carolina starting at its 25-yard line.

Illinois players thought the play was over, Beliema said, because South Carolina’s returner held his arms in a T-bar symbol.

“There’s a unwritten philosophy in coaching that when you do this,” Beliema told reporters, gesturing with his arms out, “as college kickoff return guy, what you’re doing is you’re telling everybody else that it’s going to be a fair catch and it’s going to be dead in the end zone when the ball lands.”

Teams use the T-bar gesture out of respect and courtesy to their opponents and as a way to avoid collisions and prevent injury, Beliema said.

“They didn’t do anything illegal,” he said, “but it put us, I think, in a position that the ethic of what that is got evaporated there because our kids stopped.”

Beamer said he talked to the referees before the game to make sure the play was legal.

“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. “But I would say he needs to check the rulebook, because that’s something we cleared.”

According to Beamer, Juju McDowell extended his arms out, as if to signal for a fair catch, before throwing the ball across the end zone to Nyck Harbor. Beamer added that it’s legal to do that motion as long as McDowell didn’t wave his arms.

The referees didn’t throw a flag after the third-quarter scuffle, despite the frustrations lasting a few moments. The third quarter ended shortly after. South Carolina scored a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter but went on to lose 21-17.

Beamer and Bielema shook hands as normal following the end of the game, and both expressed respect for each other in their respective postgame press conferences.

“Listen, I love Shane. He’s a good person,” Bielema said. I know somebody said that he thought I did (the gesture) to him. I did it the whole damn sideline. I just wanted them to understand that I know what just happened.

“There’s nothing illegal, there’s nothing wrong. I just have never seen it done in any level of football, college or pro. That’s it.”