Are you sure? I thought after the 12 men penalty, that made it second in five. Clock was completely stopped at 2:28. Not running mind you. Again, trying to suffer through this horrible loss with you all.
It wasn't about stopping the clock. Pacheco finished with a 7 yard gain, and the down was subsequently negated due to the penalty. Which made it a 1st and 5 instead of a 2nd and 3. Given that they'd have 3 plays to gain 5 yards, an overwhelmingly doable feat, Smith attempted to draw a penalty to reset the downs and lose only 5 yards in the process. The referees assessed a personal foul instead of an offsides, and the downs were reset like we wanted, but it cost us an additional 10 yards. We then forced them into a 3rd and long, as we hoped. And they converted the unlikely attempt.