CINCINNATI — A lone well-wisher broke through a crowd of young fans surrounding Mardy Gilyard to offer him congratulations and then slipped into the backdrop on the field at Nippert Stadium on Friday.

Before he disappeared, Gilyard stopped signing autographs to make an introduction.

“Hey everybody,” he said. “Say hello to Juice Williams.”

But the Illinois quarterback didn’t rate a second glance after No. 5 Cincinnati’s 49-36 win kept the unbeaten Bearcats in the hunt for a BCS bowl, or the unlikely chance to play for the national championship.

Williams became the sixth Big Ten player to top 10,000 total yards for his career. But it wasn’t enough to outscore Cincinnati’s offensive weapons as quarterback Tony Pike threw for 399 yards and six touchdowns and Gilyard scored three times in front of a stadium-record 35,106 fans.

“Their offense was really explosive,” Illinois linebacker Ian Thomas said. “I definitely see them competing as a top-two team. We thought we were prepared for everything they could throw at us, and they executed even though we thought we knew what was coming.”

Returning from an injury to his non-throwing arm, Pike showed why he was an early Heisman Trophy candidate by completing 32 of 46 passes and setting a school record for TD passes in a game.

Williams and the Illini offense outgained the Bearcats 476-420, largely because Cincinnati was unable to run the ball with any effectiveness.

Despite one of its best offensive games of the season, Illinois (3-8) couldn’t climb out of an early hole after spotting Cincinnati (11-0) a 28-7 lead by the opening minutes of the second quarter.

Illinois has averaged 31.3 points in the last four games after managing only 11.3 in its first six games against bowl subdivision opponents.

“Offensively we struggled early but we’ve kind of got things going now,” Williams said. “Unfortunately it’s kind of late right now.”

The only thing standing between Cincinnati and an undefeated regular season is next week’s Big East finale at Pittsburgh. The Bearcats are 11-0 for the first time in school history.

Their latest performance drew a representative from the Orange Bowl, where they played after the 2008 season, along with numerous NFL scouts.

“We shouldn’t be looked at as a conference that is not deserving of a BCS bid,” Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said. “We have proven that on the field. … Each year we are continually changing the perception of the Big East. You have to play these teams and beat them.”

When the season started it was Illinois that was considered an up-and-coming program on the brink of breaking into the national spotlight. Cincinnati was expected by some to be down after a big 2008.

But Pike, who has thrown 23 touchdowns with three interceptions, kept the offense rolling with the help of Gilyard and others. Against Illinois, it didn’t matter that the Bearcats had negative rushing yardage until midway through the fourth quarter.

“You go in trying to make them pass, but that’s probably a mistake against them,” Illinois co-defensive coordinator Dan Disch said. “Gilyard is as good as there is and the quarterback is awfully good. Those guys beat us up pretty good.”

Said Kelly: “We were going to throw it all over the ballpark today.”

Williams put the Illini ahead with an early 21-yard touchdown pass to Fred Sykes, one of three TD passes on the day for the senior. Cincinnati rattled off the next 28 points, including a 90-yard kickoff return by Gilyard.

He also had an 11-yard touchdown in the second quarter and a one-handed grab on a 21-yard pass at the back of the end zone in the fourth.

Illinois made things interesting by pulling within 28-17 at halftime. And it was 35-20 when receiver Chris Duvalt broke wide open down the right sideline only to drop a pass at the 20 that could have resulted in a touchdown.

“When we go back and watch the tape, they’re going to realize we had our opportunities and made some key mistakes,” Illinois coach Ron Zook said. “Playing a team like this, you can’t do that. We had a couple of dropped balls that could have turned into big plays, and you get points out of big plays.”