I like how Madden becomes a chess match BEFORE the snap at the line of scrimmage. If I'm passing, I'm looking for which coverage I'll be facing. Often, (like Cam said), it's not easy to spot...so I'll put a receiver in motion or fake a couple snaps to see what happens. Then it's all about the hot routes. Out's and swing passes against zone defenses...posts, hooks and slants against man to man. And then of course, if the guy playing defense knows what he's doing, he'll come right back at you by changing a blitzing linebacker into zone, or drawing 9 men into the box only to have them drop back into coverage.
And THEN the ball is snapped and the fun starts
and NCAA is just ****ing wild. Recruiting is awesome, custom building a team based on size/speed/type of players, establishing your team in the BCS rankings, creating rivalries, grooming 18 and 19 year olds to push for the heisman in a couple years. It's all gold.