On a third-and-15 late in the third quarter Saturday, Missouri offensive coordinator Josh Henson called his quarterback�s number.

Just as he had done the week prior on a third-and-17 against Florida, calling a quarterback draw for Maty Mauk in which the sophomore broke outside of the tackle box and ran over Gators cornerback Jalen Tabor at the marker to finish off a 19-yard gain.

After Henson called the same thing against Vanderbilt, he surveyed the field and saw that the Commodores were setting up to bring six rushers. He felt a little queasy.

�I actually said, �Oh man, this ain�t good,� � Henson said.

Mauk got by the first wave of defenders and broke into the open field as his receivers occupied the other Commodores in man coverage downfield.

He went 36 yards to the Vanderbilt 13-yard line � Missouri�s longest gain of the day � and threw a touchdown to Bud Sasser a play later. After that run, Mauk completed 6 of 9 passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns and ran three times for 25 yards.

He was playing on instincts, looking a lot like the quarterback Henson saw last year and early this season before Southeastern Conference play started.

�If I�m going to run and get a first down, my confidence is going to go up,� Mauk said. �I�m going to be ready to especially take a shot because now they�re going to be worried about, �Is he going to run the football? What�s he going to do?� When he called those� draws, �they were perfect situations to call them. Now they�ve got to worry about that, too.�

Mauk said he never lost his confidence during the three-game stretch in which he completed only 37 percent of his passes and threw five interceptions. Henson agreed.

Still, both said the game started coming more naturally to Mauk over the course of 60 minutes against Vanderbilt, an encouraging sign for the stretch run.

�I talked to him a lot about how sometimes when I get real frustrated and I get angry in the� coaches� �box, I don�t think as clear,� Henson said. �I don�t spit out the plays. I go back and think, �Man, I called two or three plays I�d like to have back,� or whatever it was.

�I think it�s the same way when you play quarterback. I think when you get real frustrated and angry, you focus more on that emotion than what�s going on in the game. I think that�s what Maty did a better job of Saturday.�

The Vanderbilt game still included some of the hallmarks of Mauk�s less efficient outings this season.

He held the ball far too long on a rollout throw and got called for his third intentional-grounding penalty in the past four games. He sailed a short screen to Russell Hansbrough on a play in which the tailback had plenty of running room.

Mauk patted the turf in frustration. Hansbrough exasperatedly threw his hands in the air. Outside of a 35-yard go route to Jimmie Hunt, Mauk was 3 of 9 for 15 yards in the first half.

�I know his stats don�t blow you away, but we also had two drops, and one of those was another third-down conversion,� Henson said. �He also missed two or three throws that were a little off in timing, accuracy. Another foot or two the other way, those are completions. There�s easily five, six more completions in that film and you�re sitting there going, �Wow, he�s 17 of 23,� and, �Boy, what a day.� That�s where we�ve got to get him. We�ve got to get him to that point.�

Mauk also showed signs of progress that weren�t present against South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

He hit Hansbrough and Marcus Murphy on two checkdowns that picked up 17 yards each. He avoided making the dangerous throws that cost the offense even when it was putting up yards and touchdowns in bunches last year.

He trusted his blockers and stayed in the pocket when the line gave him one.

�We do appreciate it. It�s always nice when he steps up,� right tackle Taylor Chappell said. �He�s been working on that. That helps us out and allows him to get the ball downfield to our receivers better. It�s good for everyone.�

And he used his running ability � the most natural part of his game � to simplify things with his passing.

Mauk picked up 57 yards on four designed runs, also scrambling once for 10 yards and tacking on a face mask to get the Tigers in position for their final score.

If his confidence never left, it certainly swelled as he put up more yards.

�I don�t think he ever lost his confidence. That was blown way out of proportion,� Coach Gary Pinkel said.

Through 12 games as a college starter, Mauk is 9-3. He�s been equal parts maddeningly inconsistent � 51.3-percent completion rate, 11 interceptions � and intermittently brilliant � a touchdown per 13 pass attempts, 28 scores accounted for.

Henson would prefer the latter, or at least some sort of happy medium.

After a month of stagnation, it appears as if Mauk is taking steps to get there.

�I don�t worry about Maty�s confidence,� Henson said. �Do I think he was frustrated? Sure. Not any day did I walk out there and go like, �Oh, man, he�s fragile. He�s on egg shells� at practice. I never felt like that.

�That�s just not Maty Mauk. That�s not who he is as a person. He�s a fighter. He�s a competitor.�