Why did Bret Bielema show T-bar sign to South Carolina sideline? Illinois coach explains action in postgame presser

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer's heated argument with Illinois head coach Bret Bielema on the field during the Citrus Bowl went viral. The altercation seemingly got more attention than the Fighting Illini defeating the Gamecocks 21-17.

The build-up of the moment started when Bret Bielema went onto the field to check on his injured player in the third quarter. While returning, he did the T-bar sign while looking at the South Carolina sidelines. This triggered Shane Beamer who rushed to the field to confront Bret Bielema.

In the post-game press conference, Bret Bielema shed light on the incident and his actions. The Illinois head coach stated that he did the T-bar gesture because of an "unwritten philosophy" in college football.

"I don't know exactly about the other thing," Bielema said. "The only thing I did was there is an unwritten philosophy in coaching that when you do this (T-bar sign) as a coach, that kickoff return guy, what you're going is you're telling everybody else that it's gonna be a fair catch that it's gonna be dead in the end zone when the ball lands.

"The reason we do that and I first got aware of it in the NFL was kickoff and kickoff return is the highest percentage of injury in the sport. So one of the things that coaches began to do is that everybody, out of respect, started T-baring... Everybody does that. I've never seen it in any other way.... There's nothing illegal, they didn't do anything illegal. But it put us in a position that we know the ethic of what that is, that evaporated there."

"Listen I love Shane, he's a good person. I know somebody said that he thought I did at him. I did at the whole damn sideline...I just wanted them to understand that I know what just happened."

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Shane Beamer left agitated post-game by Bret Bielema's action

While Bret Bielema clarified that he meant no ill with his T-bar gesture, Shane Beamer was still irritated with the incident.

While speaking to the press after the Citrus Bowl came to an end, he stated that he had never seen a college football coach do something like this.

"It's heated and complicated out there, but in all my years of being around football I've never seen an opposing head coach come over and to an opposing team's sideline and basically make a gesture towards the opposing head coach.

"I think he was upset about something that we did in the kickoff return in regards to JuJu on a throwback to Nick Harbor. But I would say he needs to check the rule book. That's something we cleared with the officials before the game."

The South Carolina Gamecocks finish the season with a 9-4 overall campaign. Beamer now has a 29-22 overall record during his four-season stint with the program