Notice has been served in Cambridge: the Crimson of Harvard want the Ivy League football championship. The official statement was released Saturday afternoon, as the Crimson annihilated the previously undefeated Pennsylvania Quakers, 39-0.

The season seems to be building toward a spectacular finish. On the 23rd of this month, an awesome football team from Yale will arrive at Soldiers' Field for its classic grudge match with Harvard. It is a distinct possibility that the encounter will feature two Ivy unbeatens. The game will decide the championship.

Harvard's astounding destruction of the Pennsylvanians on Saturday was more than just a rout. For the Quakers, it was a brutal realization that they are not going to win the title they have dreamed of for many years. With Marty Vaughn and Adolph Bellizeare playing their final games in a Red and Blue uniform, that fact must be tough to swallow.

For the Crimson and its coach Joe Restic, however, the victory represents a dramatic discovery. Only three games now stand between Harvard and the coveted Ivy prize; The Crimson has reached the crucial stage of its Ivy season undefeated.

In the Penn game, Harvard displayed qualities--among them opportunism, desire and talent--that can make a team a champion. It has been several years since a Crimson squad entered an important game with an undefeated opponent and emerged a 39-point victor. It has also been a while since Harvard moved into the fifth game of its Ivy season unbeaten in league play.

Among the special factors that seem to be carrying Harvard toward another monumental showdown with Yale, one stands out in particular. That is the infusion of talented young ballplayers into the Crimson lineup at key positions.

Speed such as that shown by sophomore halfback Tom Winn has not been seen on Soldiers' Field for too many years now. Second year man Charlie Kaye, instrumental in the Penn encounter, gives the defensive line the great size it has sorely lacked. Tom Joyce has done a tremendous job as linebacker.

On offense, the year is not turning out to be the one-sided Pat McInally show that many people expected. The end is the finest Harvard has ever had, but his performance would be severely limited were it not for the other diversified elements of the Crimson team. McInally is great because he plays for a winning ballclub, a team that doesn't rely on his talents for victory.

It is difficult to tell what the next three games will bring for Harvard. Princeton, N.J., is the first stop along the road, and it is a fact that the Tigers are always hard to beat at home. The Princeton defense is one of the toughest in the league, and the motive of revenge for last year's 19-14 defeat will also be present.

The Crimson returns home for its last two encounters, the first of which features a Brown team that has another rugged defense. Last season's clash was a wild affair, but this one figures to be a grueling experience.

If the Crimson survives that one, the entire season will boil down into 60 minutes of classic football. Harvard and Yale in The Game for the Ivy League championship.

A few things should be kept in mind, however, as the season enters the final three weeks. This is not the best outfit that ever has or will play for Harvard. It is obviously not made up of a bunch of supermen.

And for that reason, each of the remaining three games will be an emotional as well as a physical challenge. The outcome of those contests depends on exactly how much desire the 1974 Harvard football team has and, to some degree, on how much desire its fans have to see the squad win the championship.

There should be no need to conjure up memories of past Crimson successes to drum up support for this year's team. A victory, not a 29-29 tie, is what Harvard wants in the Yale game this year.