Is Johnny Manziel as good as Cam Newton? Is he one of the two best to ever play the game of college football?

Yes and yes, accordig to Auburn coach Gus Malzahn as he prepares to face the former Heisman winner for the first time, the Associated Press reported.

"I would say probably those two are probably two of the best that ever played the game in college football," said Malzahn, who was Newton's offensive coordinator. "We only got to see Cam Newton for one year, but this guy, he's in the same element,"

"They're different but they're still some of the best to ever play," he said.

Manziel has mostly matched the Heisman pace he set last season, at least as a passer. He's on track for similar totals in passing yards and touchdowns with a better completion percentage and more yards per attempt. His rushing yards and TDs are way down, though. Still, Manziel had another great game versus Alabama this year and has done nothing to tarnish his Heisman or dissuade NFL scouts, who project him 8th in next year's draft, as per CBS sports.

What does Newton say?

"Johnny is a great football player, and he's playing at a level that people don't even really see, as well as Clemson's Tajh Boyd," the Panthers quarterback told reporters. "There are a lot of players across the nation that are playing great football at the quarterback position. The Oregon quarterback [Marcus Mariota]. I'm a fan of football at the NFL level, too, and who's playing better football anywhere besides Peyton Manning right now?"

Some see Manziel's obvious confidence. Newton sees it as poise.

"When you look across the board and me being a fan of the game, it's all about confidence," he said. "When you get a person playing with confidence, who knows what they're capable of? That goes to show you, when I was at Auburn, I played with confidence."

Whether he is still playing with confidence in the NFL is a story for another time.

In their respective Heisman seasons, Newton and Manziel put up similar numbers, with the slight edge to Newton, who had 7 more total tds.

Newton is 6-foot-5 245 pounds and Manziel is 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, but both are running quarterbacks with the ability to improvise.

"When you've got a special player, you can call anything and it usually works," Malzahn said. "They get you out of bad plays and they can make stuff right that's not right. Special ones can do that."