Eddie McGee could never forget his first Arch Rivalry.

The redshirt freshman didn’t expect to see a meaningful snap in the 2007 matchup with Missouri, but that quickly changed after Juice Williams suffered a concussion during the first quarter.

“I was just shocked. I knew I was ready,” he said.

“It was a feeling of excitement, I was a little nervous, I was a little scared, but I was ready.”

McGee’s first drive started at the Missouri 23-yard-line, and he drove his team all the way to the one-yard-line.

Then came a play that may have swung the game, as McGee dived for the end zone and fumbled the ball, and Cornelius Brown recovered and ran 100 yards for a Missouri touchdown.

Freshman mistakes aside, McGee finished, having produced a game that inspired confidence in his team. He had gone 17-for-31, with a touchdown and two interceptions. McGee kept the Illini in the game until their final drive, which ended in an interception by Brown.

The Illini left the game with their heads held high and ended the season with their first Rose Bowl appearance since 1984.

“We fought very hard that game,” said junior linebacker Martez Wilson, then a freshman.

“How we competed showed that Illinois was a different team heading into that season.”

In a way, each Arch Rivalry game during McGee’s career has been an indicator of how that season would end.

“I think after that game we knew we were good,” McGee said of his first appearance.

“We knew we were as good as anybody.”

In 2007, the Illini looked as if they had the potential to beat anyone, but weren’t quite solid enough to be a reliable pick week in and week out. That season, the Illini finished 9-4 after defeating then- No. 1 Ohio State, but crashed out in the Rose Bowl, losing to USC 49-17.

The following year, the Illini lost in St. Louis, and the season followed suit as Williams became a record-setting Illini quarterback while the Illini finished 5-7.

Finally, in 2009, the Illini were embarrassed by the Tigers, losing 37-9 in a season that failed to meet expectations as they finished 3-9.

“Last year it was a bad start,” McGee said. “We learned that we can’t start off under the bar. In that first game, you can build a lot of momentum. Last year, we didn’t have a lot of momentum.”

Now comes the eighth and final Arch Rivalry game in St. Louis.

“I’m going to miss it because it’s a great environment for a game,” Wilson said.

“You’ve got half of their fans, half of our fans. You kind of get that feeling a little bit and that’s the feeling I’m going to miss.”

Still, Wilson said he would rather play in Columbia or Champaign. But Saturday may be the last season-opening measuring stick for the Illini at a neutral site for a long time. They’ll again rely on a redshirt freshman quarterback, this time Nathan Scheelhaase.

The freshman goes into the game with a much different backstory than McGee — the former was named the starter over the summer and was a high-profile recruit out of high school.

He’s heard horror stories about the first drive, like McGee’s fumble or A.J. Jenkins’ first play, where he didn’t move a muscle.

“I assume just walking out there will be a little nerve-wracking, that’s just natural,” Scheelhaase said.

“It really is a dream come true. The best thing is after the first play, it’s just football. I’m looking forward to that play happening and just getting on to the rest of the game for sure.”

He certainly hopes his first drive ends better than McGee’s.

But the momentum McGee and the Illini built in that game in 2007, though, is certainly something Scheelhaase and the Illini want to replicate.