COLUMBUS, OHIO — A while after Saturday's game against Ohio State ended, Gophers linebacker Lee Campbell was asked for a little word association. Two weeks, two losses. How, briefly, do you feel?

Campbell paused and offered three words:

"Sad and mad," he said.

Pick your emotion. After a 38-7 loss to Ohio State -- which came on the heels of a 20-0 loss at Penn State a week ago -- the Gophers come home for what is suddenly a must-win game against Michigan State.

That is thanks, mainly, to a second-half avalanche in which the No. 18 Buckeyes turned a 7-0 lead into a 38-0 blowout. Backup quarterback MarQueis Gray drove the Gophers for a touchdown late in the game at Ohio Stadium that enabled them to avoid a second consecutive shutout.

Ohio State turned just about every Gophers fumble into points. And there were a lot of them: Starting quarterback Adam Weber lost one fumble and threw two interceptions. Kickoff returner Troy Stoudermire bobbled away the opening kickoff of the second half.

The Buckeyes turned those four turnovers into 24 points.

The Gophers lost wide receiver Eric Decker to a sprained foot in the first quarter. The rest of the Gophers receivers dropped several catchable passes in the first half, when the Minnesota defense was fighting to stay in the game.

But a one-score game got out of hand quickly when Stoudermire opened the second half by fumbling a high, short, wind-swept kickoff. Ohio State recovered at the Gophers 31. Three plays later, Terrelle Pryor ran 15 yards for a touchdown.

Pryor, under fire entering the game for his poor play of late, finished with 239 passing yards, 104 rushing yards, two TD passes and one scoring run.

Weber finished the game watching Gray drive his team for its only score. In the process, one quarterback controversy was quelled while another might have been born, at least in the minds of some Gophers fans, even though coach Tim Brewster stated emphatically that Weber remains the starting quarterback.

"Our kids came ready to play today, came out excited about playing this football game," Brewster said. "I thought we did a lot of things well in the first half. ... It was a 7-0 football game at the half. Our guys were right in the middle of it."

That is true. The defense dodged a bullet when a 19-play Ohio State drive ended in a missed field goal. The only score of the half came on a busted coverage when Gophers cornerback Traye Simmons let DeVier Posey get wide open behind him for a 62-yard second-quarter touchdown reception.

But even then there were signs of struggle. With Decker gone before the first quarter ended, a combination of receivers took turns dropping passes that would have sustained drives.

"With Decker going down it's pretty obvious that other receivers had to step up," said Stoudermire, who had the lone TD catch in the fourth quarter, which ended a streak of eight scoreless quarters for the Gophers stretching back to the fourth quarter of their victory over Purdue on Oct. 10. "We had a couple dropped balls. We had a couple caught, but it wasn't enough. To play against a team like Ohio State, you can't have that many mistakes."

Those Gophers mistakes came from everywhere. On offense, there were Weber's turnovers. Special teams committed penalties and a key turnover. Defense? Two busted coverages turned into TD tosses of 62 and 57 yards to Posey.

Ohio State (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten) scored TDs on four of its first five second-half possessions, including three in a row, and finished with 509 yards of offense.

"It's just guys not doing their assignment," Campbell said of the big plays allowed. "It's 11-on-11. When one guy messes up, unless someone else compensates for it, they're going to score. We have to play more stout on offense, on defense and on special teams. And take care of the football."

For the Gophers, 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten, the upcoming three-game homestand becomes critical. Two of those games are conference games, starting with Michigan State this week.

"We can't end the season now," senior tight end Nick Tow-Arnett said. "I want to go to a bowl game; this is my last go-around. This [game against Michigan State] is a game that will make our season. We have to get back on the winning track. We can't have everybody feeling down on ourselves and go on a losing streak like we did last year."