Danger signs should be posted along Interstates 95, 93 and 89 between Providence and Hanover, N.H., and all over the Dartmouth campus, to catch the Brown football team’s attention.

On paper, the 86th meeting of Brown and Dartmouth on Saturday should be a mismatch. Brown (5-3 overall, 4-1 in the Ivy League) is challenging for a share of the Ivy championship. Dartmouth (0-8, 0-5) is trying to avoid a winless season.

But the penultimate game of 2008 will be played at Memorial Field, not in some notebook, and the Bears have lost heartbreakers there before. Four years ago, a 5-3 Brown team headed north and lost to an 0-8 Dartmouth team, 20-7. Two years ago Brown returned to Hanover and lost again, 19-13.

But there’s a big difference between those teams and the current edition. The 2004 Bears had already lost to Harvard, Princeton and Penn and were out of the Ivy League race. The 2006 Bears had lost to Harvard, Princeton and Yale and were out of the running. The 2008 Bears are tied with Harvard (7-1, 4-1) and Penn (5-3, 4-1) for first place with only two games remaining.

In addition, Brown has a history of beating Dartmouth when a title is at stake. The 1999 championship team won in Hanover, 35-28, and the 2005 team won at home, 24-14, en route to its championship. Brown’s first championship team in 1976 also defeated Dartmouth, 35-21, at Brown Stadium.

Brown coach Phil Estes hasn’t dwelled on history lessons this week.

“They know the history. It isn’t coming from me. If you harp on it, then it will be in the back of their heads,” he said. “I’d rather have them look at film, see what they have to do to beat them and then go out and do it.”

The Bears should be more than ready to repel the Big Green’s bid to play spoiler. They lost to Yale last week, 13-3, knocking them out of sole possession of first place and reducing the potential for overconfidence.

Brown must beat Dartmouth, and then beat Columbia at home next week ,for a piece of the title. Harvard and Penn play tomorrow, which will eliminate one of them. Next week, Harvard hosts Yale on the 40th anniversary of their famous 29-29 tie, and Penn is at Cornell.

“They have to win, so the pressure in on,” Estes said of his team. “It’s no different than Dartmouth. They’re feeling the pressure of getting that one win.”

 Unlike the 2004 team that lost four games by a total of 13 points, the 2008 Big Green has lost only one game by fewer than 10 points, that a 21-13 loss.

Brown junior Bobby Sewall of Portsmouth had a breakout game against Dartmouth last year, rushing 15 times for 144 yards, catching 18 passes for 141 yards, scoring four touchdowns and throwing a 41-yard touchdown pass in a 56-35 rout. Will he get 34 touches on Saturday?

“If Bobby does good things with the touches he gets, he’ll get more of them,” Estes said.

Playing at Dartmouth is never easy for Brown. The game is late in the season, and the weather can be cold, dreary and even snowy.

“This is one of those games that disaster can happen, but I believe this team has more to it. We’re fighters,” Estes said.