Stategy Pad was used in only Madden and it was poorly designed...made it more work to get your pre-snap adjustments in. Thankfully NCAA 11 didn't implement it, and we made sure they didn't :D
Madden will get my money once I hear about the Franchise improvements. I haven't bought Madden since Madden 10, but with all these improvements they're showing, it's possible I get back on the Madden train.