Bret Bielema and Shane Beamer have finally buried the hatchet.
Amid their bowl game scuffle which led to Bielema’s taunt toward Beamer with the T-Bar fair catch signal, Bielema admitted his wrongdoing in the incident despite Illinois beating South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl.
Bielema cleared the air on “Pardon My Take,” which was released Thursday.
“I got caught up in the moment, you know, and that one was kind of more a little moment in the game,” Bielema said. “So I literally called him. There was later in January a coaches convention and I knew his dad [Frank Beamer] was getting an award so I probably knew he was gonna be there. I was gonna try and make it to the event but couldn’t do it so I called him and had a conversation and it was very cordial."
Bielema said things worked out for the best at the end of the day.
“I think you’ve just gotta get past those moments,” Bielema said. “That ended up being a rule change, so for the good of the game that was actually a good thing that happened.”
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Given the current scheduling model, the Fighting Illini-Gamecocks matchup can only occur during bowl season or the CFP. If a rematch does occur, it is highly unlikely that this moment will not be dissected again.
Only time will tell: