Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor’s comeback was over almost before it started. Taylor missed the LSU game with a right foot injury, took the opening snaps against Oklahoma Saturday, and was in the medical tent before the first quarter ended.

He finished 2 of 5 for 10 yards, and his three runs lost a combined 12 yards. Mississippi State announced before halftime that Taylor would not return, Billy Puckett played the rest of the way, and the Bulldogs fell 23-15 for a third straight loss. For the second straight game he played, Taylor left before the final whistle.

One scramble changed the whole afternoon

The first question Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby faced in his postgame press conference was about his quarterback, and he did not need long to explain what went wrong.

“On his scramble, when he took off, he felt it a little bit, so it felt like the right thing to do was get him out of the game,” Lebby said.

Give Lebby credit for the quick hook. A quarterback playing on a sore foot in a close SEC game is the easiest thing in the world to talk yourself into, and pulling Taylor right away might have kept a bad situation from turning into something worse.

Cleared after a very limited week

The bigger question is how Taylor ended up on the field in the first place. He first hurt the foot against Missouri in late September, left the Alabama game early, and then missed the trip to LSU entirely.

Lebby was asked directly what went into clearing Taylor and when the decision was made. 

“Yeah, team decision from our doc standpoint, [head trainer] Thomas [Callans], myself, Kamario felt he did. He felt good. He had a better week, still very limited throughout the week,” Lebby said. “But we were all, man, on the same page, and he was ready to go play.”

Two things in that answer are hard to ignore. Lebby never said when the call was finalized, and he admitted Taylor was “very limited” all week. Taylor’s game is built on movement, and the injury showed up on the same night he threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns to beat Missouri. Sending that player into an SEC game without a full week of work was always a gamble, and it did not pay off.

The same foot flared up again

Later in the press conference, a reporter pointed out that Taylor seemed to feel it after a tackle and asked whether this was a new injury or the old one acting up. Lebby kept his answer short. “No, it was re-aggravating,” Lebby said.

The Bulldogs can take a little comfort in that answer. Lebby’s response confirms this was the same injury, but it does not establish how much recovery time Taylor may need. Still, four weeks have passed since the Missouri game, and Taylor continues to deal with the injury.

Waiting on Monday for real answers

Lebby did not put a timeline on Taylor’s return. When a follow-up asked about the possibility of an extended absence, his first words were blunt. “Yeah, we’ve got to get out of our own way,” Lebby said.

The timing could hardly be worse, with a trip to No. 19 Texas next. Lebby’s very first answer of the night pointed to Monday as the day the picture should clear up. 

“Again, as we move forward, we’ll know a lot more tomorrow, we’ll know more Monday as we move through,” Lebby said.

Until then, Mississippi State is left waiting on a foot that has refused to cooperate for a month.