The ability to completely change the makeup of your team in 2-4 seasons was great.
It was even more fun when your kids would mess around and not do their school work, or get in trouble off the field, and you had to suspend them or risk the NCAA getting on your butts.
It takes years to effectively change your team's strategical makeup in Madden and schematically everyone is pretty much doing the same thing at the NFL level. I loved going to a top school in the Big 10 or the SEC and installing the Wishbone, just because.