PHILADELPHIA--The University of Pennsylvania today assured itself of at least at tie for its third straight Ivy League football crown by pummeling a visiting Harvard squad, 38-7.

The impressive, come-from-behind victory, before 38,810 under beautiful skies at Penn's Franklin Field, upped the Quakers' Ivy mark to a perfect 6-0 and made them a safe bet to become the first undefeated Ancient Eight champion since 1970.

Penn need only win or tie at Cornell next weekend to clinch sole possession of the crown that it has shared with Harvard the past two years.

With its first Ivy loss of the year, the Crimson fell to 5-1 in league play, and, as a result, lost control of its own destiny.

At best, Harvard can only tie Penn for a piece of the title, but that would take a Crimson victory next weekend over Yale in The Game, and a Penn loss to 2-4 Cornell.

That's because the host Penn squad, the most balanced team to hit the Ivies in years, today completely shut down the league's top two runners--tailback Robert Santiago and fullback Mark Vignali--and turned a 10-7 halftime advantage into an insurmountable lead by the end of the third period.

The Harvard offense never seriously threatened after its first scoring drive, thanks in part to the twisted right knee of junior quarterback Brian White--who left the game at the start of the second period and did not return until the second half--and thanks in part to the swarming, aggressive play of the far more talented Penn defense.

The Quakers recorded four interceptions on the day, grabbing two off White and two off senior Dennis Vecchi, who replaced the injured junior in the second period.

The Quaker offense, meanwhile, scored 28 unanswered second-half points en-route to racking up the highest total against Harvard all year.

Things did not look so bleak for Harvard at the start, however.

The Crimson wasted no time, taking the opening kickoff 62 yards on 10 plays in a workmanlike drive that ended with a six-yard scoring scamper by Vignali.

The key play was a 20-yard bullet from White to Vignali that set Harvard up first and goal from the six.

On the next play, Vignali took the handoff and burst through a hole for the opening score. Junior Rob Steinberg's point-after put Harvard up 7-0.

Penn quarterback John McGeehan came out firing, but the Harvard defense stopped the Quakers on downs.

That was the story of the next three drives--two by Harvard and one more by Penn--as the Ivy League's two top-rated defenses took control.