Mizzou and Illinois have opened the season against in each other five times since 2002 including the last three years. All five years it's been Mizzou that's come out on top.

Illinois coach Ron Zook noted the importance of this game to ESPN.com recently.

"They're all important, but this one has an awful lot of importance on it," Zook told ESPN.com. "Obviously, we haven’t had a lot of success against them."

Helping Illinois this year will be new QB Nathan Scheelhaase, who happens to be from the Kansas City area as a Rockhurst High School graduate.

"I'm like everyone else, I want to see him play, too," Zook said of Scheelhaase.. "I'm not going to say he’s going to be perfect, but he’ll learn from his mistakes and he'll do a great job."

Check out Rock M Nation for lots of Mizzou talk before the season opener on Saturday.