First impressions stay with you forever. Case in point – when Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was drafted in 1999, his first impression of Philadelphia fans was a group called the “Dirty Thirty,” who booed the pick mercilessly and wanted Ricky Williams.

Since the draft, McNabb has become the winningest quarterback in Eagles history, taking the team to four straight NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl. Meanwhile, the highlight of Williams’ career involves getting busted for smoking shermans, and having to keep a paper cup handy for drug testing.

To this day McNabb still talks about getting booed at the draft.

First impressions count, and on Sept. 3, Ron Zook makes his first impression to the Illini Nation.

A win against Rutgers would give the fans a tangible sense of the program’s rebirth, while a loss would send us deeper into apathy and disappointment.

The Illini began two-a-days Aug. 11, and on Monday will begin scheming for their season opener. And in less than five days, Zook’s squad is expected to take on not Florida A&M;, not Illinois State, not the Helen Keller School for the Blind and Deaf, but Rutgers – an actual D-1 team.

That’s a tough way to kick-off a new job.

Zook said he joked around with Athletic Director Ron Guenther about it earlier in the year.

“I said, ‘Who in the heck put Rutgers on the schedule?'”

Rutgers wasn’t good when the schedule was made, Guenther told him.

Unfortunately for Zook, the Scarlet Knights are good enough to beat the Illini, and to make matters worse, head coach Greg Schiano is on the hot seat this season, making this game critical for Schiano’s job security.

Schiano has a 12-34 career record with Rutgers, but this season, with 16 starters returning, he has his most experienced team ever.

However, its one conference win last season came against Temple, which has since been booted from the Big East.

Although it’s one of a handful of games in which Illinois won’t be considered a heavy underdog, Zook is wisely downplaying the game’s importance.

“We’re building a program. We’re not building a season,” Zook said. “I’ll be darned if I’m going to let our season or our program rely on one game because that’s just not how it is.”

But even though Zook is patiently looking into the future, I guarantee Illini fans won’t if Illinois gets smoked on Saturday.

While Zook’s first game shouldn’t set the tone for the program itself, it will set the tone for fan interest in this football team.

So like it or not, it’s our first impression of your team and its new direction, Coach.

We have been asked to pay more for our tickets after the team finished dead last in the Big Ten two years ago and raised prices again this season. We have been forced to endure 30 minutes of missed tackles just to watch the Chief at halftime.

We want to win, and we want to win now. Zook assures us he does too, with one caveat.

“There’s going to be tough times during the game and tough times during this season,” Zook said. “We have a lot of work to do, but we are going to improve from the opening kickoff to the end of the game, and every game thereafter.”

With a new quarterback, new playbook, new coaches and a difficult schedule, that’s all we can ask for from our first impression.

Dan Berrigan is a senior in engineering. He can be reached at [email protected].