Not since pre-war football has a Crimson eleven beaten a Cornell team, and this afternoon's encounter seems unlikely to change the pattern. Cornell's four horsemen--the four who high-stepped their team to an Ivy League Championship last year--are out of the infirmary, and the inexperienced line has ripened through two games so that the Red Raiders are in relatively good form.

These Ithacan backs operate out of a fast, deceptive T-formation which has been built on an all-purpose serial attack and wide sweeps. Most of its ground-gaining plays have been in these two areas rather than through the middle, where the team suffers from week blocking.

The difference between last year's Ivy leaders and this season's team, which has already lost to Colgate, 19-14 and Rice, 41-20, lies with the forward wall. Only Len Oniskey, 200-pound left tackle, has returned from the championship line. The rest graduated or have been declared ineligible for academic reasons.

This puts the burden of Cornell's offense on the passing of its starting quarterback Bill De Graaf or his sophomore understudy Art Sosenko, and the receiving of ends Tom Rooney and Jack Morris. Morris is a converted halfback who runs the 100 in less than ten seconds. Senior De Graaf injured a rib against Rice and may turn to Sosenko as his replacement.

Strong Runners

Behind De Graaf are ground-gainers Dick Jackson at left half, a powerful runner with a 5.4 yard rushing average last fall, fullback and Captain Dick Bedrossian, a line backer on defense and the team's leading scorer in 1953; and right half Dick Meade, a junior, who does the squad's punting.

In the line James has no problems with weight, since his forwards average over 200 pounds from end to end. Besides veteran Oniskey at right guard is 195-pound John Anderluh. He fills the hole left in pre-season practice by the injury or James van Buren, a senior who broke a rib in a scrimmage with Penn State.

At center is Stephen Miles, who made the varsity on his ability as a line-backer.

Right Side of Line

On the right side of James' line are two seniors and a junior who saw limited action last fall. They are Frank Vadney, 205-pound guard, Joe Simon, a 212-pound tackle who played reserve behind Oniskey last fall, plus the speedy Morris.

This alignment lost two of its biggest punches before the season began with the sidelining of left end Stan Intihar and right end Carl Berner, out on academic probation.