Rice accepted a bid for the Cotton Bowl following their 41–19 victory over Baylor to clinch a share of the conference championship with Texas.

After trading punts 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.

[3] 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.

[3] Rice responded with a trio of long touchdown runs by Dicky Moegle to take a 21–6 lead into the fourth quarter.

After taking the handoff from quarterback LeRoy Fenstemaker, Moegle broke free for what was to be a deemed 95-yard touchdown run.