Quote:
Originally Posted by prekowski
...It is not surprising that in a level above the ASA (i.e. amateur), NCAA (which is one notch below professional) that they do indeed make it clear that it is in effect only when declared. ...
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Unfortunately, your distinction between ASA (and as stated all other codes sans NCAA) and NCAA are not so black and white, and rests on how the rules/interpretations are implemented.
ASA rule changes are proposed and voted on by player representative at the annual convention. Like any convention, changes take time and some are very passionately argued (Steve and Mike can shed more light on this).
NCAA rules, on the other hand, are made by a committee of coaches, who may bring a "I got burned by this one time" bias. While the "declared" part of IFF has been around since at least 1999, my guess is that this play negatively impacted a game of an influential coach.
NCAA isn't "one step from professional," as much as it is a unique rules for unique players.