1954 Cotton Bowl

In this edition on Football History we discuss an odd play from the 1954 Cotton Bowl Game and some of the legendary people associated with the contest..

On January 2, 1954 the annual Cotton Bowl game was played as the Rice Owls matched their eleven against the formidable Crimson Tide of Alabama. Rice was a powerhouse on that gridiron era. It was the champs of the South Eastern Conference (SEC) in Alabama against the top team in the South Western Conference (SWC).

Rice was led by head coach Jess Neely who was in his 14th season on the Owls sidelines that year. The Owls were not strangers to the Cotton Bowl as they played there in October when SMU hosted them in one of their two defeats of the season. The Mustangs held on and won a thriller there near Dallas, 12-7 over Rice. The other regular season “L” for Rice that season was a heartbreaking home defeat at the hands of number 19 ranked Kentucky 13-19.

On the positive side Rice opened the season by knocking off number 15 Florida 20-16, and later had wins over rival Texas (18-13), Arkansas (47-0), Texas A&M (34-7), TCU (19-6) and Baylor (41-19). Their other two victories on an 8-2 campaign were Cornell (28-7 and hardin-Simmons (28-7). Hence this impressive team went on to reach number 6 in the national rankings.

Quarterback Leroy Fentemaker and leading rusher Dicky Moegle were the offensive stars of the Owls that season.

The Crimson Tide were led by Coach Harold Drew in his 7th season at the helm. Alabama entered the Cotton Bowl ranked 13th as they finished 6-2-3 with losses to Number 2 Maryland and an upstart Mississippi Southern in the first game of the season. The ties were against LSU, Tennessee and Mississippi State. The Tide starting quarterback that year was a young fella named Bart Starr.

The game started well for Alabama as halfback Tommy Lewis plunged across the goal line for an early 6-0 Tide lead. Rice answered the bell in the second quarter when Dicky Mooegle scampered and darted his way through the “Bama defense for a 79 -yard touchdown run. LeRoy Fenstemaker’s kick was true and the Owls were up 7-6.

The Rice defense then thwarted the Tide offense and the Owls had the ball back again, this time they were pinned at their own five yard line. Then lightning struck twice and Moegle knifed his way through to the open field appearing to be outrunning everyone down the Alabama sideline. As Dicky passed midfield, running back Tommy Lewis let his frustrations get the better of him and he left the Alabama bench, strolled out onto the field of play, helmetless mind you, and tackled Moegle with a shoulder to the midsection that dropped the runner at the Alabama 42-yard line. As a result of this action, referees awarded Rice a 95-yard touchdown on the play

That second quarter tackle of Dicky Moegle on his second long run of the day sparked controversy in the game. Here is a video clip of both of Moegle's great runs.

Moegle would comeback and score third TD from 34 yards out in the thrid quarter and the Owls coasted to a 28-6 victory.

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