Last November, Cornell demolished Dartmouth, 37-14, to snap a four-game losing skid. This year the Red, currently mired in a five-game losing streak, will travel to Hanover, N.H., to seek a repeat performance against the Green at Memorial Field tomorrow afternoon.

There are four teams, including Cornell (2-5, 1-3 Ivy) and Dartmouth (1-6, 1-3 Ivy), currently tied for fifth place in the Ancient Eight. The winner of tomorrow’s contest will advance into a fourth-place tie with the loser of the Brown-Yale game.

After surrendering 420 and 338 passing yards to Fordham and Brown respectively, the Red shut down the aerial attack last week at Princeton limiting the Tigers to less than 200 yards — 78 of which came on one play.

On the rebound: Dartmouth proved the perfect cure to football’s problems last season — Cornell beat the Green, 37-14, to snap a four-game losing streak. This year, Cornell is on a five-game skid as it heads to Hanover, N.H.

The opponent’s passing game will also be extremely important this week as Dartmouth’s league-leading running back, Nick Schwieger, had his season cut short last week when he suffered a broken finger on his right hand at Harvard. The Red will also see a familiar foe back under center for the Green as sophomore Conner Kempe returned to the starting lineup last month when senior Alex Jenny suffered a dislocated throwing elbow at Yale.

“We played against [Kempe] last year, said head coach Jim Knowles ’87. “He’s really been much improved. He’s really a tall kid standing in the pocket and has made a bunch of improvements. I’m predicting that they’ll throw the ball a lot more. We have to do some things to mix him up. This year he’s better. We have to keep [the ball] in front of us. He’s got a strong arm and will throw it over the top if we don’t get some pressure on him. He’s a good player and some of their receivers have improved as well.”

Senior linebacker Chris Costello also stressed the importance of creating takeaways off of miscues. Last week, Princeton fumbled four times, but only lost possession once.

“This week we just want to capitalize on opportunities,” Costello said. “Last week [Princeton] fumbled the ball a couple of times and we weren’t able to get on it. If we can play the same kind of defense, but take advantage of the mistakes they make, then we’ll definitely be playing better.”

For Cornell, the thrill of back-to-back victories against Bucknell and at Yale to open the 2009 campaign has slowly dissipated over the course of this five-game losing streak, but Costello says the mood inside the locker room is still upbeat.

“It’s better than I would expect considering how things have gone the last five games,” Costello added. “We’re still excited and looking forward to the next game. We know all that is in the past. We’re pretty good and ready to go for Saturday.”

On a positive note, Cornell’s offense found its groove last week with 400 yards of total offense — 219 of which resulted from the ground game — and hopes to continue this trend.

“It’s about confidence and execution,” Knowles said. “We knew we were going to have some struggles with our line this year and I think they’re finally getting it. It all starts up front. They need to win those one-on-one battles and give us a chance for our skill guys to make some plays.”