STARKVILLE — At halftime, Mississippi State quarterback Wesley Carroll didn’t know where he was.

Worse yet, he didn’t know who he was either.

“I’m not saying he was a little out of it,” MSU coach Sylvester Croom said. “He was way out of it. Gone. He didn’t know who he was.”

Croom began running contingency plans through his head. The only choice was junior Michael Henig, who could hardly throw the football because of an injured shoulder. Backup Josh Riddell is lost to injury leaving only true freshman Chris Reif the lone remaining quarterback.

“We were not going to throw another freshman in there,” said Croom, whose team trailed by only a field goal at halftime. “We were going to go with Michael and do the best we could.”

Henig came in during the final minutes of the first half after Carroll got slammed on a quarterback keeper. Henig was greeted with a smattering of boos, which drew the ire of Croom. Henig planned to start the second half until Carroll, a freshman from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., came back on the field moments before the kickoff and got the OK from coaches and doctors.

“If we had received the ball in the second half, he would not have played,” Croom said.

Instead, Carroll got his wits and led the Bulldogs on a touchdown march. More importantly, he earned the respect of his teammates.

“By him coming back, it showed that he is a tough player,” MSU wide receiver Jamayel Smith said. “We need that.”

Carroll also earned another start on Saturday when the Bulldogs play at West Virginia, ranked No. 9 in the first Bowl Championship Series standings.

Croom said picking a quarterback is still on a week-to-week basis, but Carroll would certainly get the nod against West Virginia.

After the game, Carroll shrugged off his concussion, saying it wasn’t as bad as it appeared and he hadn’t experienced anything like that in the past.

“It was a rollout with an option to run,” Carroll said of the play in which he was injured. “I probably should have slid but it was no big deal. As long as we can progress from this, it will be all right.”

MSU hung tough with the 20th-ranked Volunteers, holding a 14-7 lead in the second quarter. Tennessee held a 17-14 halftime lead, then extended the lead to 24-14 in the third quarter before Mississippi State’s final touchdown of the game made it 24-21.

Tennessee added three unanswered field goals for the 33-21 final score.