In the 116th meeting between Penn and Cornell, the Quakers are hoping to wrap up sole possession of the Ivy League title after knocking off preseason favorite Harvard last weekend. Cornell, on the other hand, has watched as its best chances at picking up a third win in 2009 all dissolved into losses.

After opening the season with two straight victories, the Red has dropped each of its last six games. The Red’s best remaining chance to earn a victory will come tomorrow, when Cornell hosts the Columbia Lions. Cornell will close the season the following week at Penn, a team that has not lost since September.

With just over 12 minutes left to play against recent Ivy bottom dweller Dartmouth, it looked like the football team would cling to its 10-0 lead and snap a five-game losing streak. Instead, the Red allowed 114 fourth-quarter rushing yards and the Green tied it up at 10 to send the game to overtime. Two overtime periods later, Cornell kicker Brad Greenway missed a 36-yard field goal wide left and the Green took the win, 20-17.

PRINCETON, N.J. — In a matchup between two sputtering offenses, one big play, a 78-yard touchdown pass to junior receiver Trey Peacock, handed the Tigers the 17-13 victory at Princeton Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Cornell’s offense put up 400 yards, but could not break through Princeton’s banged up defense when it counted most — junior Brad Greenway missed a 28-yard field goal and two rushing attempts failed to net the one yard needed to extend Cornell’s drive with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The football team’s biggest spook on Halloween might be the specter of a five-game losing streak. Cornell has not dropped five in a row since the 2003 season when it finished 1-9, but the team is facing a resilient Princeton squad on Saturday after four consecutive losses to Colgate (45-23 on Oct. 3), Harvard (28-10 on Oct. 10), Fordham (39-27 on Oct. 17) and Brown (34-14 on Oct. 24).

Every time senior Bryan Walters touches the football, he breaks a record, or so it seems.

The Bothell, Wash., native holds every school kickoff and punt return record. Walters was one of the few bright spots for Cornell last week during a 34-14 defeat to Brown, as he eclipsed Chad Levitt ’96 for a school record 5,233 career all-purpose yards and moved into second place all-time in Ivy League history behind the 6,138 yard mark set by Harvard’s Clifton Dawson set in 2006. Earlier this year Walters surpassed legendary running back Ed Marinaro ’72 for all-purpose yards.

It took just two bad minutes for the football team to waste two and a half quarters worth of solid play. Cornell (2-4, 1-2 Ivy) relied on a strong defensive effort to build a 14-7 lead halfway through the third quarter. In less than two minutes, the Red collapsed. Offense, defense and special teams all failed the Red as it relinquished control of the game.

With the season officially halfway over, Cornell and Brown are two similar football teams heading in different directions. When they arrive in Ithaca tomorrow, the Bears will be riding the momentum of a three-game win streak. The Red is on a three-game skid — it hasn’t won since thwarting a last-second two-point attempt at Yale on Sept. 26. Both teams are in a four-way tie for first place in the Ancient Eight with league records of 1-1, and this game could go a long way towards determining how the final standings will shake out.

“We’re all just excited to get back to Ivy League play and it’s a big game for both teams,” said senior wide receiver Bryan Walters. “We’re on a three-game skid and just to snap out of that will be a huge game for us.”