USC quarterback Mark Sanchez listens to a question during a news conference at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Friday.

INDIANAPOLIS — Matthew Stafford refuses to accept the title of second best. Mark Sanchez won't like it either.

So the NFL draft's two top-rated quarterbacks will spend the next two months proving who is better.

Stafford and Sanchez insist this high-stakes duel will not devolve into a personal battle despite the temptation to make this about money, prestige and a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be the first quarterback selected in the 2009 draft. They figure football should never ruin a good friendship.

"Of course I think that (I should go first), and he should think that, too," Sanchez said Friday at the NFL's annual scouting combine in Indianapolis. "All I want to be is the best and No. 1 is the best, so that's what I want to be."

Most draft analysts believe Stafford, a three-year starter at Georgia, holds the lead. They claim he's the top quarterback in the class and a possible No. 1 selection in April.

Sanchez's supporters point to Southern Cal's offense, the track record of recent Trojan quarterbacks in the NFL and believe that experience makes Sanchez a better choice even though Sanchez didn't win the starting job till last summer.

The decision, of course, rests with the scouts and general managers who scrutinize everything from the obvious, like arm strength, to minute details, like hand measurements.

But the quarterbacks embrace the competition.

"We're having fun with it, trying to keep it lighthearted," said Stafford, who measured in at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds.

When Stafford and Sanchez both opted to leave school, it put them in arguably the highest-profile battle in this year's draft.

"I'm doing everything to prove to teams that I'm worth a pick, and if it's the No. 1 pick, that's great," Stafford said. "To go to the Lions, I'd be happy to go there."

But when the competition gets close, the relationship can become tense.

Sanchez and Stafford will not let that happen.

"He's a great guy, and from what I hear a great teammate," Stafford said. "He'll definitely help some team."