LIX Draft Info: 8/26 7pm

The 10th season of Larkspur Bowl football will officially kickoff on TUESDAY, AUGUST 28th. The draft is scheduled to start promptly at 7:00pm EST, with the SOUTH PARK COWS making the first pick. We'll continue in serpentine tradition through 23 rounds until the draft is complete.

As with past years, all undrafted players will enter free agency following the draft, and be available until game time week one, at which point players will enter waiver protocol, with disbursement Tuesday morning at roughly 3:00am EST. Players that were on a team for a minimum of 24 hours and then are dropped will enter waiver protocol for one day. IR eligible players on the free agent list will be allowed to be added directly to a team's IR slot.

Scoring and positional setting remain the same as last year, and can be found here.

As with past years, every team will play every other team from weeks one through thirteen in a randomly assigned sequence that has already been published on the league home page. A six team playoff will start week fourteen, with the top two seeds receiving bye weeks. The playoffs will be reseeded each round, with the highest remaining seed playing the lowest remaining seed.

The League's draft order was determined last year and remains the same, with the ORGRIMMAR HORDE replacing TORONTO LTP in the #7 slot. Team names will remain the same with the possible exception of MAR-A-LAGO GRABBERS, who will have the ability to change their team name through 11:59pm EST, August 26th 2018.


2018 WORD MARK COLOR SCHEMES:

1. SOUTH PARK COWS
2. PAWNEE PRIDE
3. HILL VALLEY McFLYS
4. MAR-A-LAGO GRABBERS
5. OAKWOOD DRIVERS
6. SOUTH PHILLY RUM HAM
7. ORGRIMMAR HORDE
8. MANITOBA MOOSECREW
9. BINGHAMTON SNIPERS
10. NEW YORK'S FINEST
11. SAVANNAH PETES
12. DEPUTY VAN HALENS
13. HCM CITY LEAD FARMERS
14. PHOENIX UPRISING

My Life for the Horde

With Toronto going on hiatus, the way is clear for the second winningest franchise in Larkspur Bowl history to return: The Orgrimmar Horde are coming to ravage your gridiron, and soon. They'll slot in the 7th slot in the upcoming draft, and after a four year hiatus will be anxious to prove their mettle. Having never suffered a losing season, the bar is high for their return, though it has been nine years since they won the inaugural Larkspur Bowl. The league they come to vanquish has changed greatly during their time away.

Their last active season was 2013, when Colin Kaepernick, Adrian Peterson, Jordy Nelson, and Antonio Gates highlighted their offense. Their defense depended upon Vontaze Burfict in the middle, and ball hawks Alterraun Verner and Earl Thomas on the back end. The status of those players now: Blacklisted, Free Agent that was traded and released last year, cherished player released due to injury, released due to age, suspended again, benched, and holding out for a trade. Some of those players might matter in 2018!

In the first round of their previous five drafts, the Horde have been running back heavy- investing in a premium player in four of five years, and all four following their championship season of 2009. Will this trend continue in 2018? There will be plenty of speculation as to how their will be designed as we barrel towards late August.

The first three years of Larkspur Bowl action, Orgrimmar was actually the league's premier franchise! Going 26-13, and finishing first, third, and second the team was a veritable powerhouse:

In 2009 they defeat New York's Finest in LBI as the two seed at 9-4; Peyton Manning led the attack, with Ricky Williams, Ryan Grant, and a young Jonathan Stewart in the backfield; First round pick Steve Smith Sr, Robert Meachum, and veterans Donald Driver and Jason Witten rounding out the offense. On defense Yeremiah Bell and Dashon Goldson tutored young Eric Weddle on the backend, with quarterback killer DeMarcus Ware, Trent Cole, and LaMarr Woodley up front and rover Stephen Tulloch in the middle. 

In 2010 at 10-3 they were again the two seed, but finished with a bronze medal after falling to the legendary OK Club in the semifinals (and polishing off HCM City nee Levee G-Men in the third place game) on the arm of Philip Rivers. Ray Rice and Darren McFadden were the grinders, while Mike Wallace and Percy Harvin stretched the field. On defense, they again relied heavily on sackmasters, bringing back LaMarr Woodley as well as Cameron Wake, Shaun Phillips, and Robert Mathis. Michael Griffin and Donte Whitner lined up deep.

In 2011 their 7-6 record masked their standing as the league's highest powered team; Two 1 point losses, a 5 point loss, and two more losses by less than 15 points marked them as decidedly unlucky. Drew Brees played out of his mind that year, tossing 46 TDs, with long time Horder Steve Smith on the other end of seven of them, Tony Gonzalez on the end of seven more, and Dawyne Bowe caught five more. The team's top pick Michael Turner paired with Beanie Wells to provided consistent production in the backfield. Jared Allen's 22 sacks paced the league, while James Laurinaitis and Derrick Johnson totaled 142 and 131 tackles apiece. Earl Thomas was back, teaming with Antoine Bethea and nearly holding the eventual champion Phoenix Uprising in check. Instead, Phoenix won their second straight title, and Orgrimmar was left to play second fiddle instead.

2012 and 2013 were somewhat ho-hum affairs; The team went a fortuitous 7-6 and missed the playoffs in 2012, their worst campaign to date. They rebounded to notch an 8-5 record in 2013, losing, somewhat poetically, to Toronto LTP. It would be their last game of Larkspur Bowl action for nearly half a decade, before returning to replace the team that had sent them to their most recent pertinent defeat. Citing a busy schedule and added responsibilities at work, Orgrimmar faded off, only to return suddenly and with great vengeance in advance of the 2018 season. 

Franchise on Hiatus: Toronto LTP

The league will be changing in 2018, as a longtime franchise goes off to pasture (for now) and an original squad returns; More on that in a bit. First lets bid proper adieu to a team that joined the League in 2012 and ran for six seasons: Toronto Les Tres Petites.

The team's first Canadian entry, LTP was a joint venture between Stu Ferguson and co-manager Mike Hart. Their rookie campaign fell short of a playoff berth at 5-8, but showing in the top six in overall points the team flashed potential that would result in three straight playoff appearances in LBV, LBVI, and LBVII. A glimpse over at the HALL OF CHAMPIONS shows that only stalwart Phoenix was able to match that consistency, no other team making more than two champions brackets during that three year stretch.

2013 was the team's best season, as they went 8-5, clinched the 4th seed, and eliminated the Orgrimmar Horde in the first round before falling to the eventual champion Uprising. An explosive and dynamic offense was led by Cam Newton and Desean Jackson, with a star breakout from 5th round pick Antonio Brown, and a career best 1,512 yards from scrimmage from Reggie Bush. Their defense was captained by recently retired Paul Posluszny who racked up an incredible 161 total tackles; Karlos Dansby (121), and Chad Greenway (123) rounded out a formidable linebacking corps, with DE Robert Quinn wrecking havoc in the opponent's backfield (15 sacks, 20 TFLs) all year. After being bounced from the playoffs Mike Hart was announced as the head coach of the South Park Cows.

Flying solo, Stu Ferguson's 2014 was just half a step behind the previous year: At 7-6 they were again third in scoring and fourth in seeding, but a first round defeat to Margaritaville meant they could only salvage 5th for a second year. Utilizing Ben Ben Roethlisberger and Tony Romo under center, the team's attack centered on another player who retired following the 2017 campaign: Running back Demarco Murray went for 2,261 yards from scrimmage and 13 trips to the end zone. Jeremy Maclin and Dez Bryant both went for 1,300+ yards and double digit scores (16 for Dez who has scored 17 combined in the three years since) rounded out a very potent offense.

In 2015 the results looked almost identical to the previous year: Another 7-6 record. Another first round loss. This time the team was the 6th seed after a precipitous drop in scoring, where they finished in 9th, showing themselves to be more lucky than good, with a masterful Tom Brady (a steal in the 7th round after an uncertain offseason) covering up for a lot of inadequacies. Timely scoring from a swan singing Megatron Calvin Johnson and some clutch maneuvering from 19th round pick Danny Woodhead kept the offense chugging, while Honey Badger Tyrann Mathieu and cornerback Trumaine Johnson ball hawked the team to uncanny victories. The team's zenith was a week 15 trouncing of the Islanders, a 253.18 score that was the second highest score ever at the time, and remains the tenth best single week showing today. However, the team fell flat in their playoff showing, getting trounced by the Pawnee Pride 206-123. Mike Hart's Cows would avenge them in Larkspur Bowl VII, some measure of redemption.

2016 and 2017 marked a decline for the team, which sloughed further off their pace each year, dropping to 12th (5-8, 11th in points) then 13th (3-10, 13th in points) and failing to develop the attrition vital to sustaining providence. Both years saw the team put together single game scoring records (#8: 253.6 against the Cows in 2016 and #14: 247.86 against the McFlys in 2017) but the team struggled to be competitive on a week to week basis. Still, their legacy remains: A playoff team in half their seasons, two bronzes in the points race, and a shared history with the LVII champs, Stu Ferguson may linger in an advisory role with South Park, or else as a friend to the league with the potential to return in the future.

Team Owners: Stu Ferguson
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Overall Record: (6 years) 35-43 .449%
Playoff Record: (3 appearances) 1-3
LB Appearances: None
Best Finish: 4th (2013)

Yearly Standing:

• 2017: 13th place 3-10; 2215.87 (13th PF)
• 2016: 12th place 5-8; 2488.34 (11th PF)
• 2015: 5th place 7-6; 2258.00 pts (9th PF)
• 2014: 5th place 7-6; 2249.92 pts (3rd PF)
• 2013: 4th place 8-5; 2192.01 pts (3rd PF)
• 2012: 8th place 5-8; 2001.45 pts (6th PF)

First Round Picks:

• 2017: RB LeSean McCoy (6th) GRADE: B
• 2016: WR AJ Green (9th) GRADE: A
• 2015: WR Calvin Johnson (9th) GRADE: A
• 2014: WR Dez Bryant (12th) GRADE: D
• 2013: RB Doug Martin (3rd) GRADE: C
• 2012: RB Chris Johnson (10th)

AKA: Les Tres Petites