I agree. This series got me into college football in my teen years. But since the series ended, I haven't been in the mood to watch college football regularly like I used too.
I always preferred NCAA to Madden. Madden was the moneymaker but NCAA was the better product to me. NCAA devs had the freedom to follow their own path. A lot of people are still want Madden to add the Coach Carousel feature that NCAA implemented 6 years. Game wasn't perfect, but it captured the college atmosphere. It was a lot rewarding starting out as at a 1 Star school as a coordinator and working your way up to a HC of a 5 star school or as a HC and building a 1 star school into a 5 star school. While in Madden, you could take a team 17' Browns and be a Super Bowl team by year 2 or 3.