Around 10,000 fans huddled under umbrellas and trenchcoats in the soggy gloom at the Stadium Saturday and watched a sluggish Harvard football team plod to a 24-7 victory over Brown.

Crimson coach John Yovicsin called it "a typical Harvard-Brown football game." That seems to mean Harvard won but Brown put up a little more of a fight than was expected--statistically. The Bruins held the ball for 79 plays, compared with the Crimson's 65. Brown also had 20 first downs to Harvard's 18.

But the game was decided on the scoreboard. And the Crimson squad, which looked about as inspiring as the weather most of the time, were sharp when it had to be.

Quarterback Ric Zimmerman led a masterful 95-yard touchdown drive late in the second quarter to give Harvard a 17-7 lead at halftime. Then midway through the third quarter, linebacker Don Chiofaro recovered a Bruin fumble and Tom Choquette carried for the score four plays later. And that clinched it.

The win put Harvard in a three-way tie for first in the Ivy League with Princeton and Dartmouth. The Tigers and the Indians both pulled victories out of the fire in the second half to stay in the title race.

Halfback Vic Gatto had one of his finest days, gaining 111 yards rushing and scoring one touchdown. The solid sophomore picked his spots beautifully and shifted easily on the slippery turf.

Harvard was just plain sloppy at first. Two Crimson fumbles in the opening few minutes made everyone wonder if the boys had fully recovered from their upset loss to Princeton last week.

Zimmerman fumbled on Harvard's third and fourth plays from scrimmage. And the Bruins converted the second one into the game's first score when quarterback Jack McMahon tallied on a rollout from the 12-yard line.

Whole Offense

McMahon was just about the entire Brown offense. The sophomore signal-caller, completed 10 of 22 passes for 128 yards, ran 21 times, and scored the only Bruin touchdown. He also directed three drives that fizzled inside the Harvard 20 when the Crimson defense bore down. But the Brown fans loved him. They applauded McMahon when he came off the field each time one of his drives bogged down.

Harvard's defensive secondary was alert. Bill Cobb made a sensational diving interception of a McMahon heave late in the first quarter to launch a drive that ended 11 plays later in Jim Babcock's first field goal of the year.

The Crimson also got a pass rush going for the first time since the Dartmouth game. Defensive end Bill Timpson replaced Justin Hughes in the third quarter, "because we needed more of a pass rush," according to Yovicsin.

The rugged junior promptly made five tackles--two behind the line of scrimmage and one that caused a fumble to stop a Bruin drive on Harvard's 17.

The second string responded well, when the coaches let them. Harvard had a 17-point bulge for the last 23 minutes, but reserve backs only saw action in the last two plays of the game. Defensive linemen were luckier. They played nearly seven minutes while the Bruins marched down the field until they were stopped at the eight. Coach Loyal Park kept safeties Tom Williamson and John Tyson in the game right until the end.

It was a game that rivalled the Penn contest in dullness. Fans amused themselves watching the Battle of the Bands between Brown and Harvard instrumentalists. The Bruins played the Yale and Princeton fight songs, and the Harvards retaliated with "The Teddy Bears' Picnic." STATISTICS   BROWN  HARVARD First Downs  20  18 Rushing Yardage  137  209 Passing Yardage  128  139 Passes  10-22  11-18 Fumbles Lost  2  2 Punts  4-47  3-35 Yards Penalized  44  62