Madden 08 crash problem during Superbowl

OK, I've done a search, and couldn't find a topic that already addressed this particular problem, so if this has already been answered, I apologize.
Anyway, I've recently re-installed Madden 08 after feeling a football jones and not having any other alternatives to satisfy it. (Damn you EA, we want 10 on the PC!!!!)
I played a few games just to get me re-acclimated to the controls and pacing of the game, then started a franchise with my sadsack Lions. I played through the preseason, regular season, and the playoffs up to the Superbowl without any issues. I estimate I played around 30 or so games up to this point. Game ran flawlessly. Now, when I play the Superbowl, at a random spot during the game, it just freezes. The video is stuck at the transition between plays, and the only audio is the crowd background noise. I then have to Ctrl-Alt-Del and force Windows to close the game. I've tried 4 times now to play the game, and each time it has crashed. Does anyone have any insight to why this suddenly happens, and maybe a way to correct it?
Here's is more info on my situation...
It has crashed every time during the transition animation between running one play and calling another, when I don't have any control over the game.
I've tried all the usual troubleshooting: made sure my video drivers are up-to-date, patched the game, quit all unneeded background processes, restarted before playing, even uninstalled and reinstalled the game.
My computer is more than able to handle the game, as I've played a bunch of games up to this point without issue. I have Window 7 64-bit, but again that not the problem as I've been playing the game for a while without incident.
I haven't made any changes to my computer between the last time it worked and now, hardware or software, so there isn't a new conflict with the game. I did install a current (Nov 09) roster and an updated uniform for the Lions, but those were installed well before the problem arose.
So, there's my pickle. Anyone have any thoughts on my problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated...|||Since I posted this, I've made a discovery. The game locks up immediately before my team kicking off. I played 2 games, one where the opposition kicked off to start, and one where I kicked off. If the other team kicks off, there's no problem, but the game locks up when getting ready for my team to kick off. I can kick field goals and PATs, but kick offs lock the game up.