Alabama came up short in its comeback bid against LSU, but that was hardly the fault of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. He played Saturday despite having ankle surgery on Oct. 20.

While Tagovailoa did have a costly unforced early fumble and interception in the game, he also threw for 418 yards and four touchdowns. Without him, Alabama’s 46-41 loss likely looks a lot worse, which would have hurt the Crimson Tide’s playoff chances moving forward.

On Monday, Alabama wide receiver Devonta Smith was highly complimentary of his quarterback, calling Tagovailoa “a warrior” for his effort against rival LSU.

“He played great,” Smith said. “Despite the outcome, we know there’s things that we could have done better as a group offensively, defensively. We’re going to correct that, and he’s a warrior for what he did.”

Alabama trailed LSU 36-16 at halftime, but the Crimson Tide managed to crawl back into the game behind Tagovailoa’s effort. Alabama scored four of the six touchdowns in the second half, two of which were passing scores.

Again, while Alabama wasn’t able to complete the comeback, losing by five to one of the top teams in the country is going to look a lot better to the playoff committee than falling by multiple touchdowns.