Four man crew, I am R. 2nd and 11, about 14 seconds left in the first quarter. QB rolls right, no receiver open, tucks and carries about 2 yards. Gets hit, ball pops out. My LJ is down 10-12 yards with receivers works his way back and blows an IW while the ball is clearly on the ground, unposessed. I an trailing the play, look up and see 6 seconds on the clock. I wave to stop the clock, but eco let's it run off. I explain to my LJ he had an IW (enough about that), go to both sidelines and explain what happens. Offense decides to replay the down. So I tell U to reset it. Look over for the chains and the H has already reset them for the start of the second quarter.
Now the dliemna. I choose to bring the chains back, reset the clock for 6 seconds (which we had to keep on the field), start it on the ready and hope and pray they get the snap off in time. They did. Of course, by bringing the chains back, we had to guestimate the spot. We know it was second and 11, and the ball was straddling the 25, so it wasn't too far off anyway.
Should I have ignored the six seconds and given them second down on the first play of the quarter?