1954 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic , part of the 1953 bowl game season , took place on January 1 , 1954 , at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas , Texas . The competing teams were the Alabama Crimson Tide , representing the Southeastern Conference ( 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 and his " 12th man tackle " of Rice running back Dicky Moegle in the second quarter . Teams . 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 Auburn in the Iron Bowl 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 28 – 14 in the 1938 game and North Carolina 27 – 13 in the 1950 game . Game summary . After trading punt s on the opening pair of offensive possessions , midway through the first quarter Alabama ' s Bart Starr 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 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 deemed 95 - yard touchdown run . In what was dubbed the " 12th man tackle , " Alabama running back Tommy Lewis left the Alabama bench , entered the field of play and tackled 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 . As humorously reported in the " Reading Eagle , " " The incident became the first in bowl game history where a man on the bench tackled a runner , and also the first where a runner received credit for a touchdown while flat on his back 38 " [ sic ] " yards from the goal line . " 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 .