De'Vondre Campbell made eight tackles last Saturday and was a big reason the Gophers held Ohio State 15 points below the Buckeyes' season average.

But defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys indicated Tuesday that he wasn't pleased with the bravado the junior linebacker brought to the postgame news conference.

After the 31-24 loss, Campbell said, "I think we have a great chance to beat Nebraska and Wisconsin. We've just got to get back to the lab, correct our mistakes from today, and I think we'll be fine. I'm not too worried about it.

"We'll see [Ohio State] again in three weeks."

That was a reference to the Big Ten Championship Game, and the Gophers can indeed make it there by winning these next two games. They remained at No. 25 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night. But Claeys and other players stressed Tuesday that they can't be thinking about anything other than this Saturday's game at Nebraska, ranked No. 21 by the Associated Press and No. 23 by the playoff committee.

"Maybe at one time that was acceptable around here, but it's not [now]," Claeys said. "So they better be ready to play [at Nebraska], or we'll lose again.

"It's hard to win on the road. I like the confidence of the kids, but you've got to play them one at a time. Already been in trouble once trying to look ahead, so hopefully they learned from that."

Claeys was referring to Minnesota's last road game — a 28-24 loss at Illinois on Oct. 25. The Gophers were 5 ½-point favorites heading into that one, and they're 11-point underdogs heading to Nebraska.

"I definitely think you've got to be careful when you're saying some things like [what Campbell said]," cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun said. "We are a confident group, and we do want guys to think like that. But more importantly, we want guys to worry about Nebraska this week."

The Cornhuskers rank fourth in the Big Ten in scoring, at 38.8 points per game. But the Gophers should have an easier time containing Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. after getting torched by Ohio State's J.T. Barrett.

Both are dual-threat quarterbacks. Barrett has rushed for 771 yards, and Armstrong for 588. The difference has been passing. In Big Ten games, Barrett has completed 64 percent of his passes, with 16 touchdowns and three interceptions, while Armstrong has completed 49 percent, with five touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Nebraska's game at Wisconsin last week was billed as a battle of Heisman Trophy candidates between Melvin Gordon and Ameer Abdullah. Gordon punched his ticket to the award ceremony, rushing 25 times for an NCAA-record 408 yards and four touchdowns — without playing the fourth quarter.

Abdullah, who sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee Nov. 1, had a quiet 18 carries for 69 yards, as the Cornhuskers fell 59-24.

"I won't get into comparing scores," Gophers defensive tackle Cameron Botticelli said. "But what Wisconsin showed everyone is, you can bottle that [Nebraska] offense up. And we're going to bust our tail ends this week to make sure we do that on Saturday."

The defense was kicking itself after the Ohio State game, knowing a good effort could have been even better. The Buckeyes scored three of their four touchdowns on third down, including Barrett's full-throttle, first-quarter sprint. On third down, Ohio State needed one yard, and the freshman gave them 86.

The Buckeyes also scored on second-and-9 in the third quarter, when a communication breakdown in the Minnesota secondary left Michael Thomas wide open for a 30-yard catch. Barrett, Armstrong or Brutus the mascot could have made that throw.

"I think if we wouldn't have had the miscommunication and tackled better, possibly we had a chance to hold them to around 21 points," Claeys said.

But he was hardly in the mood to bask in that as a success.

"I wish close counted," he said. "But it doesn't."

When the Gophers upset Nebraska 34-23 last year at TCF Bank Stadium, the Cornhuskers converted only four of 12 third-down attempts. Ohio State, for comparison, was 9-for-13 on third down.

"That loss hurts, and that pain is going to fuel our preparation this week against Nebraska," Botticelli said. "There's going to be a special fervor in practice to get ready because of falling short on Saturday. And because of where this program can go still this season."