TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Mike White’s 517-yard, three-touchdown debut as Western Kentucky’s starting quarterback Sept. 1 against Rice couldn’t have gone any better.

White had a much tougher day Saturday in the Hilltoppers’ 38-10 loss at No. 1 Alabama.

The redshirt junior was knocked out of the game in Bryant-Denny Stadium, feeling “doozy,” per coach Jeff Brohm.

White was banged up on a late second-quarter hit by Crimson Tide linebacker Tim Williams. The Alabama star body-slammed the former South Florida transfer White after he released the ball, earning a personal foul for roughing the passer.

White led WKU’s first third-quarter drive, which ended after he was sacked by Tide defensive end Dalvin Tomlinson. White left the game after that series and didn’t return, replaced at QB by Tyler Ferguson and later Drew Eckels.

“Mike I think will be OK,” Brohm said. “He got a little doozy on the unnecessary roughness penalty where they threw him down after the play.

“We thought he could go, but we decided after talking that he wasn’t all where he needed to be and we brought our other quarterbacks in.”

White, the reigning Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week, finished the day 10-of-24 for 135 yards with no touchdowns and one interception, which was returned by Alabama’s Eddie Jackson for a Tide touchdown.

“I thought Mike did a pretty good job,” Brohm said. “He was under some duress. There were not a whole lot of open receivers.

“Up until (the interception to Jackson) he did a decent job of taking care of the ball. He’s a pocket passer so when we don’t have guys open and there’s not many windows, it’s going to be tough to move the chains. We definitely had some difficulty.”

Jackson’s defensive TD the game’s key play

WKU was trailing just 10-3 with 8:59 left in the first half when Jackson made the game’s biggest play.

The senior safety sat in the middle of the field and was right there when White forced a pass down the right seam.

Jackson caught the pass thrown right to him and showed his athleticism on a 55-yard return for a touchdown. That put Alabama up 17-3 and the Toppers were never within single-digits the rest of the way.

“I just saw the quarterback stay down on the receiver and I broke on the ball and made the play,” Jackson said.

White made a questionable decision on the throw, Brohm said.

“He tried to force the ball,” said Brohm, a former college and NFL QB himself. “I’m not really for sure what he was looking at. He said he tried to back-shoulder the tight end but it looked like it wasn’t even close to him.

“I think he just tried to force it in there and he knew that’s what we can’t do in this type of ballgame. We’ve just got to hang tough and not turn the ball over and unfortunately that one really hurt us.”

Iyiegbuniwe has career game

A positive note for WKU on Saturday was the play of linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe.

The redshirt sophomore from South Warren High School totaled a career-high 10 tackles, seven of which were solo. He also recorded a six-yard sack of Alabama QB Jalen Hurts.

“I think I had a good week of practice,” the Bowling Green native Iyiegbuniwe said. “I really had an emphasis on making sure I’d be ready to play. I think it paid off.”

Iyiegbuniwe is in his first year as a starter on the WKU defense. He was primarily a special teams player in 2015.

“You know what, he’s done a very good job,” Brohm said. “He’s a smart, athletic player. …

“He’s got to be a big-time playmaker for us. I like the fact that he competed hard and played well in this game.”

Notes

Brohm is now 21-8 in his third season as WKU’s head coach. … White is 1-1 in his career as the Hilltoppers’ starting QB. … WKU is 0-3 all-time against Alabama. The Tops were paid $1.3 million for this trip to Tuscaloosa. … Saturday marked the second time under Brohm that WKU has failed to score a first-half touchdown. The other occurrence came Sept. 3, 2015 in a 14-12 win at Vanderbilt in Nashville. … Taywan Taylor (169 career catches) is now just two receptions away from Willie McNeal’s program career record of 171. … Announced attendance at Bryant-Denny Stadium was 101,821.

– Follow Daily News sports reporter Brad Stephens on Twitter @BradBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.