Mike Leach Talks Pac-12 Mascot Wars, Breaks Down Toughest Competitiors

Mike Leach joined Jim Moore and Kevin Calabro on Wednesday, continuing his mini media tour that's accompanied the start of spring practice. Overall, it was a fairly mundane interview, mostly because Leach spent time rehashing what he's been saying for the past week. But there was one spectacular portion: The Pac-12 Mascot Deathmatch Power Rankings.

Connor Halliday and Jeff Tuel will still be competing for the starting quarterback spot, though Tuel is ahead at the moment -- remember, Halliday is out with an injury. When asked if Sekope Kaufusi could be back this season, Leach answered flatly, "I didn't say that," which is certainly true. He also said any steps a player would need to take to get back in his good graces would not be public and that he keeps things in house

The real fun, however, came when Leach was asked which mascot would win a Pac-12 battle royale. His answer, of course, was the Washington State Cougar. But that didn't stop Leach from breaking down the entire conference and sizing up the competition.

Audio and a transcription can be found after the jump.

Via The Calabro Show Podcast Page

And here's the mascot portion transcribed.

Jim Moore: In a battle to the death among Pac-12 mascots, which animal or person wins?

Mike Leach: The Cougar absolutely. Let's go through this a little bit. A cougar obviously kills a duck and a beaver. A cougar against a husky ... that's pretty well a massacre. A cardinal or whatever: I don't know exactly what a cougar would either climb it or I wouldn't want to think of what else he'd do on it. Now Golden Bears could be kinda tough. I think you'd want to be a little fast and loose with them. You don't want to get caught by that bear. The Ute ... you gotta dodge some arrowheads, but I still like the Cougar. Buffalo ... I think the buffalo would be pretty tough to beat. Wildcat: Cougars are bigger than wildcats . Sun Devils, that's mythical anyway. Trojans, they may be as well. I think you gotta look out for the Bruins and the Buffalo. The Golden Bear, Bruin and Buffalo .. I think those are the tough ones.

Moore: Why the Buffalo?

Leach: Do you want to fight a buffalo? I don't know, those buffalo are big. You know, buffalo are significantly bigger than elk. I grew up near Yellowstone so I've been near buffalo. Buffalo are huge. And then the other thing I've always gotten a kick out of: When you play Colorado, there's those buffalo dragging those six handler around. Those handlers aren't dragging the buffalo. The buffalo's dragging him.

Ralphie's not even a big buffalo. Ralphie pulls those people wherever he wants to.

Two things: Leach appears to be a #TeamBear guy, at least when it comes to mascots. Also, Leach is the best, and easiest, interview around. Ask him something that piques his interest and he'll roll for quite some time, going into depth and adding humor to the conversation.

As Scott Enyeart said:

It really is impossible not to like Mike Leach....unless you're Craig James, of course.

— Scott Enyeart (@ScottEnyeart) March 29, 2012

For more on Leach, WSU, spring practice and SPORTS! follow me on Twitter @BrianMFloyd.