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It's common for opposing players to taunt each other, but South Carolina football got trolled by the opposing head coach in Tuesday's Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. Illinois sideline boss Bret Bielema taunted Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer in one of the most unusual contexts a sports fan will ever see, via @nocontextcfb on X, formerly known as “Twitter.”
Both benches cleared, but the coaches were quickly separated before a fight broke out.
The drama started when a Fighting Illini player got hurt in the third quarter, via On3's Andrew Graham.
“The incident was kicked off when an Illinois player was down and injured near the South Carolina sideline late in the third quarter,” Graham said. “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.”
This was the climax of a mind game between both Beamer and Bielema throughout the closely-contested contest. Illinois made several late substitutions that resulted in near-delay of games for South Carolina in response to the No. 15 Gamecocks' own subs.
To make matters worse for Beamer and company, the No. 20 Fighting Illini won the game 21-17, thanks in large part to a rushing attack that produced 183 yards and two touchdowns. Junior running back Josh McCray led the way with 114 yards and both scores on the ground, averaging 8.8 yards per carry.
After a defensive battle through the first three quarters, South Carolina quarterback Joshua Simon tossed a six-yard touchdown to LaNorris Sellers at the top of the fourth before McCray reached pay dirt from nine yards out seven-and-a-half minutes later. That capped the scoring, as Illinois came up with a fourth-down stop at its own seven-yard line on the Gamecocks' final possession.
Losing a Bowl game is bad enough, but getting taunted by the winning coach on top of it is not the finest way to go out. Hopefully, Beamer and the Gamecocks can recover from this devastating development moving forward.
