It could go either way. Most people have not forgotten that EA left the game in pretty bad shape last year.
They released four patches, and all failed to fix some major issues. The patches also caused the game play and overall quality of the title to deteriorate.
I think they are going to have a hard time with some of the more hardcore sim guys this year as their actions last year caused them to lose the trust of their customers.
I personally am a huge NCAA fan. It is no secret I spend hours upon hours each year finetuning the game with sliders, or trying to better the atmosphere with my stadium sounds.
Last year was a rough year for me and probably one of the most frustrating I've experienced,ever, in my gaming history. The game was a glitch fest. I broke my disc (I even made a thread which made me a laughing stock for a while) haha
Personally, my trust in EA was broken. I may buy the game this year, but only for my love of college football, which I am sure EA pretty much banked on when obtaining the exclusive license. While the improvements seem to be great, I lack confidence in EA's ability to implement them correctly. I am pretty sure I am not the only one who feels this way.
On a different note.... I think the voices of the EA faithful are being heard, I dabble a little in the stock market and lately I have been paying particular attention to EA stock. Over the last few months, I've watched EA stock fall by a substantial amount. I assume the same lack of trust is beginning to carry over to it's investors. We are making a dent.