Tempers flare, Illini slam SEC hype in Citrus Bowl win

ORLANDO, Fla. (WAND) - It may not have been a playoff game between Illinois and South Carolina, but do not say the Citrus Bowl did not mean anything.

Tempers flared, there was fourth quarter drama, and Illinois was crowned the cheesiest.

In front of an SEC dominated crowd, it was the Big Ten representative that was celebrating after the game.

"Been hearing all this talk about SEC, SEC in the playoff and things like that, and I'm just tired of the disrespect,“ said Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer. "I remember we were at the fun spot doing an activity with the other team and they were calling us Syracuse. Not that we needed any extra motivation, but that was all we needed to hear."

It was not just the off the field discussions that got heated. A disagreement over an unwritten rule during a South Carolina kick return had Bret Bielema giving a T-bar signal to the Gamecock sideline. A gesture that had South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer irate.

“Listen, I love Shane. He’s a good person,” Bielema said. “I know somebody said that he thought I did it at him. I did it at their whole damn sideline. I wasn’t going personally at him. I did it at their whole sideline. I wanted them to understand that I know what just happened."

"I knew it was Coach B because he was just smiling," said defensive back Miles Scott. "That got the whole crowd going and it was on from there."

You could tell that the Illini had some extra juice as they proved clutch once again. The Illini closed things out against the Gamecocks 21-17, securing their first win against an SEC program and first bowl win since 2011.