For almost three quarters last Saturday, it looked as though Harvard might have a chance to become sole holders of the Ivy title after all. Instead, Dartmouth and Princeton rallied for late victories, and now the League race may end this Saturday in a three-way tie.

The Princeton victory hurt most. After decisively outplaying Princeton during the first half, in which the Elis gained 199 yards compared to the Tigers 46, Yale had its 7-0 lead narrowed to 7-6. A second Yale touchdown was nullified by a holding penalty.

Still, with just 3:02 remaining in the final period, Yale seemed a certain winner as it moved to the Princeton 29-yard line. A 15-yard penalty forced the Elis to punt, and then disaster struck. Walt Kozumbo, the Princeton captain, blocked Bob Kenney's punt and then wiped out Kenney as teammate Larry Stupski scooped up the ball and raced 40 yards for the winning score.

Stupski is the player who wrecked Harvard two weeks ago with two of the most crucial tackles in the game.

Princeton, which lost tailback Dick Bracken in the first half against Yale, will have to play at its best this Saturday against rugged Cornell for its share of the Ivy crown.

Dartmouth, however, virtually insured itself of at least part of the title by defeating Cornell, 32-23. Dartmouth will be a strong favorite over Penn this Saturday.

Cornell made things difficult by holding the Indians to 25 yards on the ground during the entire contest and building up leads of 10-0 and 17-7.

When his runners -- Paul Klungess, Pete Walton, and Gene Ryzewicz -- could not penetrate the big Cornell defensive line, quarterback Mick Beard took to the air with unbelievable accuracy. He completed 16 of 19 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns and scored another on a two-yard roll-out.

Cornell coach Jack Musick, a former assistant of Dartmouth's Bob Blackman, geared his defense to stop Beard and succeeded remarkably, holding the Indians to minus 13 yards rushing in the first half. But in the second half, there was no way to stop Beard, who completed 10 of 11 passes as Dartmouth romped for 25 points.

Big Deal

Columbia pulled a mild upset by defeating Penn, 22-14, for its first victory of the season. More surprising than the outcome, however, was the Columbia strategy to stick to the ground.

Having counted almost solely on the passing of Marty Domres in its previous games, Columbia rushed for 344 yards Saturday and passed for only 20.