Sabel's Haus

With the first pick in the fourth round the St. Louis Rams took former UC wide receiver Mardy Gilyard. The team is obviously looking to add onto a very unproductive offense a season ago and give No. 1 pick Sam Bradford weapons.

Most experts had Gilyard as a third round pick so falling to the fourth round was a little bit of a surprise. Either way, Gilyard said he is very excited to be playing with Bradford and to be in the NFL.

He'll hopefully be able to make an impact in his first year but his speed might have contributed to his drop. Off the field questions also contributed but knowing Gilyard like I do, he is a guy you want on your team.

I thought they Bengals might go after him with one of their two third-round picks but they passed up Gilyard to take Texas wide receiver Jordan Shipley.

Both receivers could play out of the slot and run about the same speed. Gilyard made it quite known he wanted to be a Bengal and stay in Cincinnati but obviously the Bengals' coaches saw something in Shipley they liked more than Gilyard.

Meanwhile, former UC quarterback Tony Pike is still on the board as I write this with about half of the sixth round to go and the whole seventh round.

I could have seen this coming. I've thought from the beginning Pike was fairly overrated. He was always considered one of the top five quarterbacks in this draft and I usually saw him ranked the fourth best ahead of Tim Tebow.

But now the other four quarterbacks are gone (Bradford, Tebow, McCoy, Clausen) and Pike is waiting. Five other quarterbacks have gone as well meaning these NFL teams are taking other quarterbacks over Pike for a reason. It also means Pike is running out of teams as options.

-Another unreal performance from the Bearcats from top to bottom Saturday. Granted, Southeast Missouri State is not a team that can compete with UC, but the Cats still looked sharp in the 70-3 win. Quarterback Tony Pike was pulled just before the first half ended and still threw for 229 yards three touchdowns. Most other starters didn't play past the first half.

-Mardy Gilyard was also exceptional for the Cats. The wide receiver/utility man scored four touchdowns: two receiving, one rushing and one punt return. He became the first player to score on a run, a catch and a punt return since Maurice Jones-Drew did so for UCLA in 2005. The way Pike throws and the way he works the ball to a lot of receivers is making UC one of the top offenses in college football.

-The way the rest of the schedule plays out there is no reason why UC can't go undefeated and at least be talked about for the national championship. I realize there is a lot of football left and they could easily slip up in a game like they did against UConn last year. Next Saturday (Sept. 19) UC plays at Oregon State which could end up being its toughest test of the season. UC is 17th in the new poll, up from 23rd last week.

-Be sure to follow me on Twitter or my co-editor, Pete Marx, for the latest Bearcat news.