TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 2 Alabama survived a physical slugfest against LSU, coming away with a 20-14 victory Saturday night. While the Crimson Tide avoided the upset, it did pick up a few knocks along the way.

Center Darrian Dalcourt left the game with an ankle injury following the game’s opening possession, while cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis checked out early during the third quarter after taking a shot to the ribs. Both players did not return to the game.

“I haven’t talked to [the doctor] yet, but I know Dalcourt just sprained his ankle, I don’t know how serious or how bad it is,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said following the game. “Jalyn Armour-Davis got hit in the ribs. X-rays are negative, so hopefully, he’ll recover quickly.”

Alabama also handed Kool-Aid McKinstry his second start of the season as the freshman filled Josh Jobe’s role at cornerback. Following the game, Saban revealed that Jobe was unable to practice this week due to a turf toe injury. The junior ended up playing Saturday night anyway, entering the game following Armour-Davis’ injury.

“We weren’t going to play him in the game unless we had to play him in the game,” Saban explained. “He was ready to play in the game, but because he hadn’t practiced a lot and the feat of making his toe worse, we [thought] we would sort of see if we could get it done without him.

“And then when Jalyn went down, we thought [Jobe] was the best option to put in the game, and he wanted to play and he was ready to play and I thought played pretty well.”

Dalcourt was replaced by Chris Owens, who slid over from right tackle to man the center position. Meanwhile, sophomore Damieon George took over Owens’ spot at right tackle. The Tide’s line struggled on the night, as Alabama totaled 308 yards including just 6 on the ground. Alabama also allowed four sacks and two quarterback hurries.

Armour-Davis finished the game with two tackles and recorded an interception in the second quarter that set up the Tide’s second scoring drive. Jobe also tallied two stops to go with a pass breakup.

McKinstry, the top cornerback in this year’s class, recorded one stop on the night. Alabama held LSU to 295 yards of total offense on the night.

“I’m so proud of these young guys,” linebacker Will Anderson said. “I know when I was a young guy last year, how they step up, how they come to work every day and they wanna get better, they wanna play attention to football. Kool-Aid did an amazing job filling in that role over there. We can count on him. He stepped up big time for this game, and he played great.”