over the course of a half.

You see that all the time. Team comes out and jumps all over the opponent and builds a huge lead and then slowly watches it disappear over the course of the game.

Often it even helps the team that is behind. Your jitters go away and you switch to a "can't make this any worse" attitude, rather than being tight and nervous. You play with nothing to lose because it feels like you already lost.

The team ahead relaxes and when the lead starts to dwindle they can't shift gears back to where they were before.

The remarkable thing is that BYU outscored the Zags by 24 points after that 18-2 opening.