NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J., Nov. 6-The Harvard football team, fresh from a reassuring 38-23 victory over Penn last week, will try to get back into the Ivy League race tomorrow when it faces Princeton at 1:30 p.m., 15 miles from here at Palmer Stadium.

Barring a major catastrophe, Dartmouth will win the Ivy League title for the second consecutive year, but three teams-Harvard, Princeton and Yale-have a clear shot at second place. Dartmouth easily defeated Harvard and Princeton, then did away with Yale, 10-0, last weekend in New Haven.

Princeton and Yale are tied for second with 3-1 marks, but a victory tomorrow would put Harvard in a position to claim second with a win over Yale on November 21.

The Crimson hopes to settle its attack tomorrow, having revived a sagging offense against Penn. Rod Foster-who went all the last week and accounted for four of Harvard's five touchdowns-will start at quarterback, and will be joined in the backfield by Ted DeMars and Tom Miller.

Princeton had a breather last weekend, as they mauled Brown, 45-14. Like the Crimson, Princeton has been plagued all season by an uncertain quarterback situation.

Junior Rod Plummer inherited the starting position from Scott MacBean, the man who led Princeton to a tie for the Ivy title last year after playing wingback in the single wing for two seasons.

But Plummer has been sporadic at best. Against Brown, he was ineffective in the first quarter as the Tigers fell behind, 7-0. Then Tiger coach Jake McCandless replaced Plummer with sophomore Tim Testerman, and Testerman responded by hitting six-of-eleven passes for 78 yards.

More importantly, Testerman directed the Tigers to a quick 10-7 advantage, and upped the lead to 31-14 before retiring in the fourth quarter. Plummer came back in and fired two scoring passes, finishing the day with five completions for 122 yards.

McCandless announced early this week that he would go with Plummer at quarterback, but he didn't say how far. "We need to attain a necessary balance in our attack if we hope to continue winning." he said.

Apparently McCandless feels that Plummer has brought the Tigers this far-they are 5-1, but have yet to play Yale-and that Plummer deserves another chance.

Indeed, balance has been missing from the Princeton offense, While the quarterbacks have accounted for only 650 yards passing, halfback Hank Bjorklund and fullback Doug Blake have rushed for nearly 1650 yards.

Bjorklund is the workhorse. He carried 25 times for 220 yards against Brown, one of those a 67-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

On defense, captain Dennis Burns leads a relatively inexperienced unit that has allowed only 550 yards on the ground in six games. The Tigers use a five-three defense on first down, and a split-six with variations on second and third downs.

The chances for a Harvard victory tomorrow depend largely on Foster's ability to pass against the weak Tiger secondary, which has given nearly 1200 yards so far this season.

Harvard is in good physical condition and the squad is rested after a smooth day of travel today. Mark Steiner has recovered from an elbow injury, and Eric Honick is back to full strength although he will not be used on punt coverage.

Center Tom Waldstein was lost for the season against Penn, and the Crimson could encounter a depth problem there. Guard Skip Starck has movedover to center and Frank Veteran has replaced Starck, but there is no experienced backup center.

The Crimson defense remains the same with both Rick Frisbee and Steve Golden starting in the secondary. If Harvard is to win, the defense must stop Bjorklund and Blake. But after forcing Cornell and Ed Marinaro to pass, the Crimson should be able to stop Princeton's ground attack and concentrate on Plummer, Testerman, or whoever.