Tensions escalated in the second half of the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Tuesday afternoon South Carolina trainer Shane Beamer go after Illinois trainer Bret Bielema.

Beamer appeared upset that Bielema had seemingly intentionally signaled “substitution” to him in the South Carolina scrum and exploded in anger. Only that wasn’t exactly the problem.

Bret Bielema addressed the situation after the game, noting that the issue stemmed from an earlier South Carolina kickoff return.

“I know the one thing I did was there’s an unwritten philosophy in coaching that as a college kickoff returner, when you do that (extend your arms), you’re telling everyone else that it’s a… “It’s a fair catch and it will be dead in the end zone when the ball lands,” Bielema explained.

“The reason we do this, and I first became aware of this, was in the NFL the kickoff, and the kickoff return is the highest injury percentage in the sport, so one of the things the coaches started doing was everyone out of respect.” T-Barring. I think these people would tell you that everyone does.”

South Carolina Juju McDowell made the gesture on a kickoff and then executed a fake he was intended for Nyck harbor. This drew Bielema’s ire as his boys thought the play was dead.

“I’ve never seen it any other way. It’s not an official. There is nothing illegal,” he said. “They didn’t do anything illegal, but it put us in a position where now we – the ethics of what that is, are gone there because our kids are quitting. So if you’re a kickoff return unit, if I’m walking towards you and the kickoff returner back there, the guy blocking me doesn’t know what’s going on, so he’s going to start engaging you and we’ll see “That someone does it, that you can stop and slow down before the whistle blows without these massive collisions occurring.”

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The incident was sparked when an Illinois player was injured on the ground near the South Carolina sideline late in the third quarter. Bielema had gone over to see how the player was doing, and after turning to return to his sideline, he faced Beamer and the South Carolina huddle and gave the T-bar signal, the same signal, what a referee would do to allow substitutions.

Shane Beamer was already hot at the start of the game and was obviously upset about the officiating. And then when Bret Bielema made his shot, Beamer lost his composure for a moment. Bielema had also given the T-bar substitution signal as he crossed over.

After he cooled down a bit, Beamer called out to the sideline reporter Quint Kessenich: “You saw that.”

Throughout the game, Illinois had come on late in response to the Gamecocks, nearly putting South Carolina into a delay of games.

Seconds after the near-melee, South Carolina made a late substitution and Bret Bielema sent a series of substitutes, prompting Shane Beamer to call a timeout to avoid delaying the game in the lower red zone.

The broadcast then showed both coaches, with Bielema appearing on the sideline opposite a disheveled Beamer with a mischievous grin.

Bret Bielema insisted there was no bad blood after the game, and the two shook hands warmly, if briefly, near midfield.

“Listen, I love Shane. He’s a good person,” Bielema said. “I know someone said they thought I did it to them. I did it to her whole damn sideline. I didn’t attack him personally. I did it all over her sideline. I wanted them to understand that I knew what just happened.

“There is nothing illegal, there is nothing wrong. I’ve just never seen it at any level in football, college or pro. This is it.”

On3’s Andrew Graham also contributed to this report.