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.