The 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic, part of the 1953 bowl game season, took place on January 1, 1954, at the Cotton Bowl

Cotton Bowl (stadium)

The Cotton Bowl is a stadium which opened in 1929 and became known as "The House That Doak Built" due to the immense crowds that former SMU running back Doak Walker drew to the stadium during his college career in the late 1940s. Originally known as Fair Park Stadium, it is located in Fair Park,...

 in Dallas, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. The competing teams were the Alabama Crimson Tide, representing the Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 (SEC) as conference champions, and the , representing the Southwest Conference (SWC) as conference co-champions. Rice won the game 28–6, but its victory was overshadowed by Alabama's Tommy Lewis

Tommy Lewis (American football)

Tommy Lewis of Greenville, Alabama played fullback for the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 1951, 1952 and 1953 seasons. He wore number 34...

 and his "12th man tackle" of Rice running back Dicky Moegle in the second quarter.

Alabama

The 1953 Alabama squad won only six games all year, and only four of seven conference games. However, the other three conference games were ties, and a 4–0–3 record was good enough to win Alabama the SEC title. It was 'Bama's first conference championship since 1945 and last until 1961. Following their victory over in the Iron Bowl

Iron Bowl

The Iron Bowl is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the University of Alabama and the Auburn Tigers football team of Auburn University. The series is considered one of the best and most hard-fought rivalries in all of sports...

 to clinch the conference championship, Alabama accepted an invitation to play in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day. The appearance was the second for Alabama in the Cotton Bowl, as they defeated Texas A&M 29–21 in the 1942 game.

Rice

Rice accepted a bid for the Cotton Bowl following their 41–19 victory over to clinch a share of the conference championship with Texas. The appearance marked the third for Rice in the Cotton Bowl, as they defeated Colorado

Colorado Buffaloes football

The Colorado Buffaloes football program represents the University of Colorado at Boulder in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The team is currently a member of the Pacific-12 Conference, having previously been a charter member of the Big 12 Conference. Before joining the Big 12,...

 28–14 in the 1938 game and North Carolina

North Carolina Tar Heels football

The North Carolina Tar Heels football team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in collegiate level football. In Carolina’s first 121 seasons of football competition, the Tar Heels have compiled a record of 646–488–54, a winning percentage of .566...

 27–13 in the 1950 game.

Game summary

After trading punt

Punt (football)

In some codes of football, a punt is a play in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it touches the ground. A punt is in contrast to a drop kick, in which the ball touches the ground before being kicked....

s on the opening pair of offensive possessions, midway through the first quarter Alabama's Bart Starr

Bart Starr

Bryan Bartlett "Bart" Starr is a former professional American football player and coach. Wearing #15, he was the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1956 to 1971 and head coach from 1975 to 1983, compiling a record of 52–76–3 ....

 intercepted a LeRoy Fenstemaker pass and returned it to the Rice 48-yard line. On the ensuing possession, Alabama scored its only points of the contest after Tommy Lewis

Tommy Lewis (American football)

Tommy Lewis of Greenville, Alabama played fullback for the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 1951, 1952 and 1953 seasons. He wore number 34...

 capped the drive with a two-yard touchdown run and a 6–0 lead. Rice responded with a trio of long touchdown runs by Dicky Moegle to take a 21–6 lead into the fourth quarter. Moegle's first score came on a 79-yard run on the first play of the second quarter.

Midway through the second, Moegle was awarded a touchdown on one of the more infamous plays in college football history. After taking the handoff from quarterback LeRoy Fenstemaker, Moegle broke free for what was to be a 95-yard touchdown run. In what was dubbed the "12th man tackle," Alabama running back

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

 Tommy Lewis left the Alabama bench, entered the field of play and tackled

Tackle (football move)

Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling is to disposses an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend....

 Moegle at the Alabama 42-yard line. As a result of this action, referee Cliff Shaw awarded Moegle a 95-yard touchdown on the play even though he never physically reached the end zone.

Moegle's final touchdown came in the third quarter on a 37-yard run to cap a 67-yard drive for the Owls. For the game, Moegle rushed for 265 yards on 11 carries for an average of 24.1 yards per attempt. Rice scored the final points of the game early in the fourth quarter when Buddy Grantham rushed 7-yards for a touchdown to cap a 75-yard drive and bring the final score to 28–6.