30 most shocking moments in college football history

22. Tommy Lewis’ 12th man tackle play

With perhaps the most infamous penalty in the history of the sport, Tommy Lewis lives in college football lore over 60 years after the “12th man tackle.”

Alabama was a few years away from the start of the Bear Bryant dynasty at the end of the 1953 season but still finished at No. 13 in the AP Poll to advance to the Cotton Bowl. The Crimson Tide would meet Rice, which had just put together one of its best campaigns in school history at 8-2 and was in the middle of a solid run under head coach Jess Nealy.

Running back Tommy Lewis gave Alabama a 6-0 lead in the first quarter before Rice’s Dicky Moegle responded with a 79-yard run. Rice looked to extend its lead on another long run from Moegle midway through the second, but Lewis left the Alabama bench to tackle the Owls running back around midfield.

Officials still awarded Moegle a 95-yard touchdown on the basis that the tackle was a palpably unfair act, a little-used rule that is evoked on an obviously flagrant violation that has a major impact on the game. After the game, Lewis said he made the tackle because “there’s just too much Bama in me,” a phrase which has been copied in a wide variety of instances since.

Rice pulled away for a dominating 28-6 win and is one of the few programs with an advantage in the all-time series against the Crimson Tide. There have been more impactful penalties in college football history, but Lewis’ illegal tackle was the most shocking.