On the desk of Cornell football coach Tom Harp is a little reminder that he has kept close to him since last year. It says Princeton 51, Cornell 14, and he hopes it will inspire his Big Red to turn the tables on the Tigers at Princeton today and pull the rug out from under the Bengal's undefeated season.

Prognosticators are betting 13 points that Cornell can't do it, but the circumstances of today's game are almost perfect for the Ivy upset of the season.

Princeton won't be up for this one. The big game for the Tigers was last week against Yale, and by winning that one they sewed up the Ivy league title. And Cornell's record indicates that the Big Red needn't be taken too seriously. The Redmen have won only half their league games, an unimpressive performance considering the Penn and Columbia encounters have been near-automatic wins for all other Ivy teams this fall.

But, as coaches explain to alumni, Cornell is a better team than its record shows. The Big Red walked all over Harvard in the Stadium mud, gaining 13 first downs to the Crimson's three, but lost the game 16-0 on two bad centers on fourth-down punts and a long Harvard runback of an intercepted pass.

Cornell lost to Yale 23-31 when quarterback Marty Sponaugle was sidelined with knee injuries and dropped a 31-28 squeaker to Brown when the Bruins completed touchdown passes of 54 and 55 yards.

But last Saturday, after three losses in its last four games, the Big Red clicked against Dartmouth, walloping the Indians 33-14.

Today, if the gods are with their defensive unit, coach Harp's charges will atone for their sins of this year and for their massacre at the hands of Princeton in 1963. The Cornell offence has average 39 points in its last three games, and a machine that productive can get at least two scores against the stingy Tigers.

Eleswhere in the league, Brown can bring its Ivy record to 3-4 by beating Columbia in Providence. Passing partners Jim Dunda and John Parry will be anxious to bow out with a flash in their last college football game.

The other Ivy encounter sees Dartmouth at Pennsylvania. The Indians have lost to Cornell, Yale, and Princeton this year, and will take out their frustrations on the hapless Quakers. Dartmouth could run up a big score.