College fotball: San Diego State wins after stadium power failure

No. 19 Stanford was already on its heels against San Diego State when aging San Diego Stadium plunged into darkness Saturday night.

After the lights flickered back on, the Aztecs scored a signature win that left their Pac-12 foe in the dark.

Christian Chapman threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end David Wells with 54 seconds left, capping a wild ending sparked by a darkness delay in San Diego State's 20-17 victory Saturday night.

Six plays before Wells' score, the game was delayed nearly 25 minutes when most of the lights suddenly went out at what used to be known as Qualcomm Stadium. The city has fallen behind on maintenance of the 50-year-old stadium.

The game resumed with the Aztecs on the Stanford 42, and SDSU (3-0) quickly moved in for the score.

After the lights went out, thousands of fans shined lights from their cellphones.

"It was the calm-before-the-storm type thing," Chapman said. "We're all in there, we were telling each other, 'This is it.' I mean, crazy can't write it any better."

The top-ranked Crimson Tide struggled to get off the field on third downs and gave up 23 points and nearly 400 yards Saturday night against Colorado State. It was still a 41-23 win, but Hamilton and defensive back Hootie Jones said the players would meet Monday to discuss defensive issues.

"It's definitely frustrating because I feel like the defense is the weak link right now," Hamilton said. "The offense, that's all you can ask from them is to score points, and we were just on the field time after time. We're disappointed, but we're going to come back Monday ready to work."

Alabama (3-0) was missing five key linebackers because of injuries.

Clemson moved up to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll, passing Oklahoma and closing in on Alabama after beating a team ranked in the top 15 for the second straight week.

The Tigers received 15 first-place votes, the most the defending national champions have received this season, and 1,446 points after winning 47-21 at Louisville. Alabama remains No. 1 with 45 first-place votes and 1,504 points.