10 wild Shane Beamer - Bret Bielema memes cracking up the internet after massive altercation in Citrus Bowl

Bret Bielema and the Illinois Fighting Illini finish their 2024 campaign with a Cheez-It Citrus Bowl victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks. They secured a 21-17 victory, giving Bielema his first bowl-game victory with the program since taking over as the head coach in 2021.

Things got intense during the game when Shane Beamer and Bret Bielema found themselves in a heated altercation on the field. This happened during the third quarter when the Illinois head coach went onto the field to check on injured DB Jaheim Clarke.

Bret Bielema then raised his hands making a 'T' gesture. He continued with the gesture while looking at South Carolina's sideline. This triggered Shane Beamer who felt disrespected by the gesture. He rushed onto the field to confront the Illinois HC. He had to be held back by several assistant coaches while players from both teams filled up the gridiron.

Here are the top 10 memes about the viral heated altercation during the Citrus Bowl showdown.

Shane Beamer was ready to risk it all for his team

Bret Bielema rubbed added insult to injury by winning the Citrus Bowl

Beamer was ready to throw hands for the disrespect

The South Carolina head coach will not forget this incident anytime soon.

You could feel the passive aggressiveness between the two after the game.

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Illinois head coach Bret Bielema opens up about what led to the build-up of the heated altercation

In the post-game press conference, the Fighting Illini head coach was asked by reporters to shed light on the incident. Bielema talked about the late substitutions how it led to the build-up of the spicy argument between him and Shane Beamer.

"There's an unwritten philosophy in coaching when you do the substitution gesture as a college kickoff return guy, what we're doing is you telling everyone else that it is going to be a fair catch and it's going to be dead at the end zone.

"The reason we do that is....kickoff and kickoff returns is the highest percentage of injury in the sport. So one of the things that coaches began to do is everybody out of respect and started T-barring. Everybody does that. I've never seen it any other way."

With this Citrus Bowl victory, Bret Bielema has put up a 28-22 overall record with Illinois in four seasons. He will be hoping to improve on this result and hopefully compete for the conference championship next season.