The bus headed east from Spokane. The airport was to the west.
UCLA players were perplexed. They had not played well in defeating Washington State that day in 1967, and Coach Tommy Prothro was far from pleased.
"We started looking at each other, knowing the bus was going the wrong way," said Gary Beban, UCLA's quarterback. "We crossed into Idaho and the bus stopped. Tommy stepped on the ground, looked around. He got back on the bus and said, 'Idaho is a state I have never been in, now I have.' "
The team then headed for the airport.