Washington made the national championship game last season. But the Huskies team Northwestern will take on Saturday at Husky Stadium is far, far different from last year's squad, which lost to Michigan 34-13 and finished 14-1.

Head coach Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama and was replaced by Jedd Fisch, who left Arizona. Three players were drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft and dozens more departed via the transfer portal. The program also left the PAC-12 for the Big Ten.

That's a lot of change in one offseason.

Washington is 2-1 and coming off a gut-wrenching 24-19 loss to rival Washington State in the Apple Cup game that dropped them out of the AP Top 25. The Huskies outgained the Cougars but were stopped on a fourth-and-goal at the WSU one-yard line with 1:07 left on what can be charitably be described as a questionable play call.

What can Northwestern expect from the Huskies on Saturday? We talked to Andy Yamashita, the beat writer for the Seattle Times, to get some inside intel on Washington.

Here is our Q&A.

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Q. Okay, I have to ask: fourth-and-goal from the 1 for the Apple Cup and they run the speed option to the short side?