NEW YORK » For a while amid the mounting Heisman Trophy hoopla that has engulfed them this week, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o and Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel were able to forget their rivalry and celebrate their similarities Friday.

A day before one of them will likely take home the 78th bronze trophy that is the most prestigious prize in college athletics, the two small-town football prodigies joked with each other and marveled about Big Apple traffic and manners.

"Together we have been in awe of all this," Te’o said, spreading his hands expansively in a hotel meeting room that overlooked the honking traffic and frenzy of Times Square. "The view, the scenery, the lights (of New York)."

Te’o, who grew up in Laie, population a little more than 6,000, and Manziel, from Kerrville, Texas, population 22,347, first got to talk extensively Thursday at the Home Depot College Football Awards presentation in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and again Friday.

Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein, the third Heisman finalist and presumed third-place finisher, was at the Unitas Award banquet in Baltimore and did not attend Friday’s press conference.

And while fans and media passionately debate the respective on-the-field merits and chances of Te’o or Manziel taking home the Heisman Trophy from today’s 3 p.m. ESPN broadcast, they were more taken, as Te’o put it, by "just how people don’t obey the traffic rules around here. (And) they just cross the crosswalk where there is still a red stop hand. Stuff that we’re not used to where we’re from."

Despite their disparate upbringings 3,800 miles apart, Te’o said, "there are a lot of similarities. He’s a cool guy and we’re both about our families and football. We both love this game."

Te’o said, "We don’t really like the spotlight, but we understand that it comes with the territory."

Manziel, who is bidding to become the first freshman to win the Heisman, said he told Te’o, "You’re the veteran in all this and I’m the little pup."

Manziel said he first met Te’o, who is trying to become the first pure defensive player to win the Heisman, with some trepidation.

"To see how he plays on the field, I thought he might be a guy — with how big he is and how intimidating he is — I thought he might be a guy who’d like to stuff me in a locker," Manziel said. "And maybe beat me up a little bit."

But Manziel said, "I got to meet him last night before the awards ceremony and soon as the first time I talked to him I could just tell I was going to get along with him," Manziel said. "I really liked his personality and the way he was and the way he acted towards me."

For his part, Te’o said, "Johnny is a very humble guy. The guy you see on the football field and the guy that you meet as a person, it is just night and day from seeing him jumping round on the football field. In person he’s very quiet and humble."

They even talked a little about Alabama, the then-No.1-ranked team Manziel beat in November, helping propel Notre Dame to the top spot in the polls. Manziel said he might give Te’o some inside insight before the Fighting Irish play Alabama in the Jan. 7 Bowl Championship Series title game in Miami.

But Manziel said, "There are some conference things there, me being a (Southeastern Conference) guy, wanting to keep the SEC secret."

Te’o said the first time he heard about Manziel was from a Notre Dame teammate who "told me, ‘I’m voting for this guy named Johnny Football for Heisman.’ I said, ‘What?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I’m voting for this guy, he’s so good, he’s the quarterback from Texas A&M and you should check him out.’"

Te’o said, "I said, ‘Thanks, bro’ for the support.’ But when I watched Johnny, oh my gosh, this guy is like they say, he is like a human video game."

But whatever comes tonight, "whoever wins, deserves to win," Te’o said. "They didn’t win by luck."