Losing will shake you to your core, and perhaps nobody knows that better than the coaches on either sideline of Saturday's Cornell-Dartmouth matchup.

Cornell travels Saturday to Hanover, N.H., having lost five. Dartmouth snapped a 17-game losing streak two weeks ago.

"When you hit a stretch like this, faith doesn't help you get around problems, it helps you get through them," Cornell coach Jim Knowles said. "So there's no getting around it. We are what we've been the past couple weeks."

Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens knows the feeling all too well.

"I wouldn't wish it on anybody," Teevens said after snapping the longest losing streak in school history with a 28-6 victory over Columbia on Oct. 24.

In last week's 42-21 loss to Harvard, the Big Green also lost the Ivy League's leading rusher, Nick Schwieger, for the season with a broken hand.

"Regrettably he was playing very, very well for us," Teevens said. "We'll find out during the course of the practice week who that running back will be" to fill in for Schwieger.

Dartmouth's go-to wide receiver is Tanner Scott, who joined the football team his sophomore season after cutting his baseball career short. Against Harvard, Scott (6-foot-4, 190 pounds) and quarterback Conner Kempe connected seven times for 116 yards and a touchdown.

Struggling to move the ball consistently has been a big problem for the Big Red, but last week Cornell showed some positive signs -- 400 total yards of offense, 219 rushing yards and 23 first downs. But two missed field goals and two interceptions proved costly as the Big Red only found the end zone once, which is just its sixth touchdown in four Ivy League contests.

Cornell was hampered again last week by another miscommunication in the secondary that allowed a 78-yard game-winning touchdown pass. It was the sixth pass play of 45 yards or more that Cornell has yielded in the past three games.

"It seems to be a different thing every week," Knowles said. "It's not a recurring guy or a recurring particular defense. We have found ways at inopportune times and I think sometimes when you get into a bad streak you've got to keep preaching and working on communication."

Last season, Cornell snapped a four-game losing streak with a 37-14 victory against Dartmouth behind a 96-yard reception from Bryan Walters. The Big Red is hoping history repeats itself Saturday.

"Dartmouth has as many tools as anybody does in this league, they're just young and going through some growing pains," Knowles said. "You can tell on film offensively how much improved they are. Their quarterback throws a great ball and they've been protecting the quarterback and have become balanced with their running game. To me, it's about not giving up the big play and having great pursuits."