WILLIAMSBURG, Va.-Although the Harvard football team can't win at home-it is 0-3-1 this season in friendly Soldiers Field-the gridders did celebrate Homecoming in Providence last weekend, shattering Brown's wineglasses, 41-7.

Today the team hopes its Homecoming mastery continues, as Multiflex battles parade is at 10 a.m. this morning and the game between Harvard and the College of William and Mary is at 1:30 p.m., and you don't need a Harris poll to realize that many of the students here view the football game as a secondary formality.

Basketball, soccer and sunbathing are the big sports in this part of colonial Virginia, and the football team's abilities-or lack of them-have more than a little to do with that.

While the Tribe has won three of its last four games, its overall record is a weaker-than-it-looks 3-5. Of the five losses the narrowest margin of defeat was 17 points to Virginia Military Institute, and W and M has lost 42-0, 47-3 and 27-0 this season. The defense has given up 213 points over eight games.

Illogical

Yes, it's true that one of William and Mary's victories was at Dartmouth and Dartmouth did beat Harvard, but if college football worked by any sort of logical procession, there would be little room for left-handed passes and quarterback-in-motion playys. And last year the Tribe knocked off Dartmouth (which went on to beat Harvard), but then fell to the Crimson, 24-13, at Soldiers Field.

That game, last November, is the last time the Crimson won at home. However, the Crimson is 3-0 on the road this season, and it may be that Joe Restic is starting to root for a late start on the reocnstruction of the Stadium, so that all of next season's games will be outside Cambridge.

Harvard is of course riding high after last week's everybody-plays rampage at Brown, and with fullback Jim Callinan on his way to a record-breaking rushing season, the Crimson looks ready to rool over the nation's second oldest college.

The Tribe runs a balanced attack, led by senior quarterback Chris Garrity (52 percent completions for 1044 yards) and sophomore running back Bernie Marrazzo (510 yards). Garrity had three TD passes during last week's win over James Madison, and passing has hurt the Crimson defense this season. But the Tribe signal-caller has also thrown 15 interceptions. While Harvard has picked off 18 enemy aerials this year, led by cornerback Rocky Delgadillo's five.