Scarlet Sunrise: Cade Stover listed as John Mackey Award semifinalist

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Buckeyes TE Cade Stover listed as John Mackey Award semifinalist

Ohio State’s Cade Stover is a semifinalist for the John Mackey Award, given annually to the best tight end in college football. Stover is coming off a two-touchdown performance against Indiana. He finished with three receptions for 45 yards and those scores. Stover has broken out as a receiving threat this season. He now has 29 catches for 366 receiving yards and five touchdowns in 2022. To put that in perspective, last season he had just five grabs for 76 yards and no scores.

Stover has already more than doubled his snap count from last season, and he’s proven to be a reliable blocker, particular in the run game. In fact, Stover’s Pro Football Focus run blocking grade of 71.7 is good for seventh among all Buckeyes with at least 100 run blocking snaps.

No Ohio State player has ever won the Mackey Award in its 21-year existence.

Buckeyes hold steady at No. 2 in College Football Playoff rankings

It was a pretty uneventful Tuesday night of College Football Playoff rankings. Ohio State remained No. 2, behind only Georgia, and is one of three Big Ten teams in that 25-team hierarchy. The Buckeyes are second nationally in the AP Poll, too.

What’s interesting, though, is that Ohio State’s season-opening victory over Notre Dame just keeps looking better as the weeks go on. The Fighting Irish, who have losses to Marshall and Stanford this year, have pushed to a 7-3 record with notable triumphs over North Carolina, Syracuse and Clemson.

Here are the top-seven in those CFP rankings, as of Tuesday night:

1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. TCU
5. Tennessee
6. LSU
7. USC

Full coverage of Ohio State preparation for Maryland

The Buckeyes will be back on the road for the third time in the last four weeks, as they gear up for a Week 12 matchup at Maryland. The focus is on the Terrapins, who started the season 4-1, but have gone 2-3 since — and both of those wins were close calls against Indiana and Northwestern.

Most notably, head coach Mike Locksley’s team played Michigan tight earlier this season. Actually, Maryland held a 13-10 lead late in the second quarter of that game and ended up losing by just one score in The Big House, 34-27.

Ohio State is dialed in on the Terrapins, but it’s hard not to look ahead with Michigan coming to town for The Game next weekend.

Spencer Holbrook, Andy Backstrom and Tim May were back inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Tuesday, discussing that balance — staying in the moment at Maryland but also preparing for Michigan —in the latest Practice Report presented by Byers Auto. Every Tuesday following the media session with the Buckeyes, Spencer, Andy and Tim will chat about what they saw the previous Saturday and look ahead to what to expect from Ohio State the coming weekend.

After hearing from head coach Ryan Day and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, the Lettermen Row crew is back for a full report on what it learned.

Tim May Podcast: Inside Kamryn Babb’s special moment, peeking ahead at rivalry, B1G title picture

The Tim May Podcast is back after Ohio State took care of business at home with a 56-14 win over Indiana. Tim is joined by former Buckeyes linebacker and current Big Ten Network analyst Joshua Perry, who won a national title with Ohio State, to talk about how murky the Big Ten West is right now. They also take a look ahead for next week’s rivalry game.

Later in the episode, Tim has a can’t-miss conversation with the father of Kamryn Babb, Tyrone Babb, to learn more about his son’s memorable touchdown reception against the Hoosiers — the first collegiate catch for Babb, who has dealt with five season-ending injuries since his sophomore year of high school.

Check it out in the link below and find more episodes of the Tim May Podcast on our YouTube channel.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Maryland: 3 days

Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 10 days

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