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I personally don't think that, on the field, either game is particularly great. Football has been done much better before. However, somebody earlier mentioned that the engine fit better with the college game, and I think that that's probably true, at least for non-pro-style teams. I don't really enjoy playing as teams with pro-style offenses in NCAA because the breakdowns in the blocking, running and passing become immediately apparent, but they're not so bad in spread or other shotgun-based offenses. But in Madden, pro-style is all you've got, and the EA engine just sucks there; the running animations are messed up, the line interactions are terrible, the passing physics are only decent (though much better than previous years), and there never seems to be a good balance in the passing game between the receivers and secondary. The limited number of receivers means that either the DBs are locked onto receivers or they're completely lost.
All I run with in NCAA is the spread, and it's specifically designed in real life to combat these issues with players of generally lower talent or ability. The speed of the game and the use of options, sweeps, and pitches help to hide the issues with the line interactions, and the constant use of 3, 4, and 5 WRs make lapses in the secondary AI more believable. Plus, the general lack of intelligence in the AI is more understandable in the college game, where, again, the talent level is lower than the NFL.
But all these issues become inexcusable in an NFL game, especially when there are very few spread-style offenses and the talent level should be higher. I can understand Kase Keenum missing some wide open passes or Arkansas' DBs completely dropping their assignments (or blatant INTs) from time to time; but that doesn't work when it's Peyton Manning and Derrelle Revis and it still happens 5 times per game. This is like saying that if you like a Camry, you shouldn't have an issue with the Lexus ES. But people often do. It's because in its class, the Camry makes sense; it's economical, roomy, reliable, and overall decent (if not great, and plenty of people don't like it, myself included). But you can't slap on some leather upholstery, alloy wheels, a standard Nav unit and a Lexus badge and suddenly expect me to look at it like a true luxury car, even if it is "entry-level luxury." Under the hood, it's still a Camry, and nothing you say is going to make me look at it any other way.
And that's just from a gameplay perspective, which is about as close as the games are going to get. In my opinion, the Dynasty mode of NCAA completely blows Madden's Franchise mode away, and it's not even as good as it should be. But the ability to be hired/fired, build programs to perennial powerhouses, and battle for stud recruits week in and week out is something that I find purely addicting. Things like recruiting and signing free agents in Madden becomes more of a chore because they're just menu selections. NCAA's recruiting is the absolute seller for me, because I feel like I'm actually fighting every week for these guys, which then means once they get to my school, I want them to be as good as possible, so I have a connection to them. I'll never have that with a player in Madden.
But that's what makes the NCAA package, as a whole, leagues better than Madden in my opinion. The gameplay is quite similar (though, as I said, makes a little more sense in NCAA), but the rest of the package is what keeps me coming back to NCAA year after year. Madden, more or less, has to stand on its gameplay merits, which are severely lacking unfortunately. If I'm going to play a football game based purely on gameplay, it's going to be one of the 2k offerings or even the last gen Madden/NCAAs (where things like weight, momentum, and passing arcs actually existed). For a full dynasty/franchise experience, though, NCAA11 is one of the best ever, and that's largely what makes the game so good. I would much prefer it to have a completely new gameplay engine itself, but I'll put up with the one it's got for now.
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