AUBURN | There are a few things you get to know about Mike Leach the more time you spend around him, one being that the further away from football the question, the longer his answer will be. Sure, the Mississippi State coach will give you information on how well his quarterback Will Rogers is playing, but ask him about growing up in Cody, Wyo., and he will delight you with 15 minutes of stories and anecdotes about his childhood.

So, when I spoke with Leach on Wednesday night, I used it as a chance to learn about his team, who is standing out to him on both offense and defense and how his second year in Starkville is going. But, per usual, it was the off-the-gridiron questions when Leach was at his best.

With that said, here's my conversation with Leach in which we talk about Mississippi State football, what he's seen from this year's Auburn team, changes he would make to college football and why he loves the hit TV show "Yellowstone."

On the improvement of quarterback Will Rogers

LEACH: I think the players around him have gotten more efficient. I think that our line has gotten a little better. We're still a work in progress. Receivers have gotten better. Plus, he's getting familiar with them. I think that all those things, plus he himself individually, he's gotten better too.

He's completing 75 percent of his passes. How important is that in your system when you throw the ball 50 or more times a game?

LEACH: No, it's really important. Plus, he's had some pressure, so he has done a pretty good job of taking care of the ball, taking what he gets, that type of thing.

On the emergence of Cal transfer wide receiver Makai Polk

LEACH: Well, first of all, he is older. Our team's full of freshmen and sophomores. He's older. So I think that's helpful. The other thing is he's caught an awful lot of balls, not as much at Cal, but he's got the college experience there, but he was in all the passing leagues and stuff that went all over the state of California, which does nothing but help you.

Auburn's defense is prone to giving up a lot of yards...

LEACH: Well, I hope so.

And you have faced a Derek Mason-led defense three times. What does he do well as a coordinator?

LEACH: Well, I think they're coached well. I think one thing he does is he does a real good job of giving their defense an identity and then sticking with it. I think a lot of guys can get easily distracted and try to do too much. And that's not his deal, and I think it helps him.

Who is an offensive player that doesn't get enough credit for Mississippi State?

LEACH: Well, I think in part of it, it's because he's emerging as we speak, (wide receiver) Christian Ford, and then of course, probably, one of our most consistent players is (wide receiver) Austin Williams.

Who on the Mississippi State defense has impressed you this season?

LEACH: That's tough to say. I mean, there's a lot of good ones. Tyrus Wheat (linebacker) does a lot of good stuff.

So you keep stating that you still have a young team…

LEACH: Uh-huh. Crazy. Shoot, we're going to have 79 scholarships right now.

Is that right?

LEACH: Yeah. I don't know the number, but Kentucky and Arkansas had like 96 or something.

But you guys have won some big games. So, how important is it that the players on your roster have bought into your system in Year 2?

LEACH: I think we bought in. We practiced with good energy. We're a kind of an eager, hard-working group. The biggest thing is it's a combination of enthusiasm, trying to gain experience.

So here's an off-the-wall question. If you had 15 minutes to sit down with Greg Sankey one-on-one, what would be the three questions you would ask or changes you would recommend to the game?

LEACH: Oh, some of them I got to be careful. One might get fined for…

I figured…

LEACH: Well, one, I'd get rid of targeting because I don't think it's evenly administered, and I think it's overly onerous. I just think it's so hard to determine, and there's so many factors, and it's not that folks don't try, they try to, but no, I think it's just too inconsistent. I'd get rid of targeting. Do what you can for player safety, but I don't see where it's benefiting very much.

Let's see what else would I get rid of. Oh, uncatchable ball. There'd be no such thing as uncatchable ball because sometimes if a guy's getting held or interfered with. Well, for one thing, there's just amazing catches that happen every year. And so maybe this will be another one. And then the other thing is, when a guy's interfered with, a quarterback's ready to throw, sees the guys interfered with, oftentimes he alters his throw to try to protect the ball. And that rule goes way, way, way back. And I've always thought that.

And then what about the fixing?

Yeah…

LEACH: Our conference is growing as we speak, but it'd be nice to play a bigger variety of teams on the other sides.

Favorite vacation spot outside of Key West?

LEACH: Well, it depends what you're trying to do. If you want to see another part of the world or something, which some of those are kind of expeditions more than vacations. Expeditions would be somewhere that I haven't gone. If just for your money and that type of thing, if it's beach, Hawaii, it's hard to beat Hawaii for how simple and Hawaii's not as expensive as you think. And it's very simple, very clear cut. US dollars, US everything you pay some fee to get in and out of the country. You're not confronted with different rules, and then Hawaii's more beautiful than even people imagine.

And then... Or maybe some skiing. I need to go skiing. It's been a couple years since I've been skiing. And so I used to love going skiing at Crested Butte.

So I have to ask, since you're a Wyoming guy, have you watched "Yellowstone?"

LEACH: Oh yeah. Yeah, I just finished the first episode of this season yesterday.

Give us a quick review of the show.

LEACH: Well, it's a great show. It's a great show. It's kind of like, the show, if you think about it, as far as just the general formula, it's like the show Dallas except with ranchers instead of oil people in Texas and all the diabolical things that people might be up to and then it's on cable. So it can be more intense.

And then this season based on the two-hour premiere... And you got to watch it in order. Otherwise, you get out of sync. This could be the best season ever. And I think the first two seasons were great. I thought the third season was okay. As far as this single episode or certainly an opening episode, this one's the best one.

Do you see yourself in the Kevin Costner role?

LEACH: Oh, there are times I'd like to get away with something Kevin Costner does. My favorite character on the show is Beth. I think if you remove Beth from it, I think a lot of elements of the show that really make it good collapse.