The Football Forge Power Rankings: Week 20The unpredictable USL Championship continues
No changes for the top two this week, but plenty of movement elsewhere, as well as some big scores.
| Rank | Team | Previous | Change | Record | Forge Factor | Note |
| 1 | Las Vegas Lights | 1 | 0 | 7-7-6 | 22.01 | The Las Vegas Lights were on a bye. They head to Colorado Springs Friday. |
| 2 | Rhode Island FC | 2 | 0 | 5-4-10 | 20.73 | Khano Smith and company’s return to The Magic City went about as well as could be expected in the 3-1 win. The game was statistically much closer than it really was. They host North Carolina Saturday. |
| 3 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 8 | 5 | 10-4-5 | 18.82 | Cal Jennings scored but still lost ground on Nick Markanich in the comfortable 2-0 win in Indianapolis. Charleston at home Saturday. |
| 4 | Loudoun United | 4 | 0 | 7-6-5 | 17.51 | Loudoun United were on a bye. They get a twofer this week: Charleston at home Wednesday, PIttsburgh away Saturday. |
| 5 | New Mexico United | 3 | -2 | 11-4-2 | 17.27 | New Mexico’s 10-game home winning streak is over and they were lucky to get the 1-1 draw with the Legion. They played a very lackluster game. Off to El Paso this Saturday. |
| 6 | Charleston Battery | 5 | -1 | 11-2-7 | 15.79 | Nick Markanich scored a brace in the first 5 minutes of the second half as the Battery beat Miami 2-0. His 18 goals are 6 better than #2 Cal Jennings of Tampa Bay in the Golden Boot race. They square off this Saturday, but first the Battery have Loudoun Wednesday, both games away. |
| 7 | Louisville City | 11 | 4 | 13-4-2 | 14.95 | Was Amadou Dia’s tackle a foul? A very tight call, but the PK was missed anyway and Louisville preserved the 2-1 win over Colorado Springs. City welcomes Monterey Bay Saturday. |
| 8 | Sacramento Republic | 19 | 11 | 8-3-8 | 14.05 | SacRep were 4 goals up before Oakland’s Jonny Rodriguez scored 2 to try and make it respectable. No chance. Final score 5-2. To Detroit Saturday. |
| 9 | Pittsburgh Riverhounds | 15 | 6 | 5-9-6 | 13.92 | Pittsburgh’s scoring woes are over. 8 goals in the last 2 games, with 3 in the first 21 minutes against Hartford this week, including 2 in just 90 seconds. They win 3-1. Hosting Loudoun Saturday. |
| 10 | Orange County | 17 | 7 | 8-9-3 | 12.91 | Orange County were missing a few regular starters but got a solid game from new loanee keeper Tomas Gomez in the 2-0 win over San Antonio. T Birmingham Saturday. |
| 11 | North Carolina FC | 14 | 3 | 5-6-8 | 11.65 | North Carolina looked to have the game wrapped up until a deflected shot in the 93rd minute tied it 1-1 with Detroit. Rough luck. They go to Rhode Island Saturday. |
| 13 | Detroit City | 7 | -6 | 8-5-4 | 11.20 | Detroit dominated the attacking play but couldn’t get a breakthrough until second-half stoppage time for the 1-1 draw with North Carolina. They stay even with the Legion on points. Sacramento visits Saturday. |
| 14 | FC Tulsa | 18 | 4 | 5-6-6 | 10.62 | The Horrific Baseball Field Derby ended with a 1-0 win for Tulsa as Philip Goodrum’s cheeky backheel was the decider over his former team, Memphis. He had a couple more chances too. They get Indy Friday. |
| 15 | Monterey Bay Union | 12 | -3 | 7-8-5 | 10.37 | Monterey Bay Union were on a bye. They head to Louisville Saturday. |
| 16 | Colorado Springs Switchbacks | 10 | -6 | 8-8-3 | 9.42 | The usually reliable Ronaldo Damus missed a PK and the Switchbacks lost a closish game in Louisville 1-2. They get a rested Las Vegas Friday. |
| 12 | Birmingham Legion | 9 | -3 | 8-8-4 | 8.82 | The Legion looked weak in the 1-3 home loss to Rhode Island but were easily the better team in the 1-1 draw in New Mexico. A schizophrenic week. Orange County at home Saturday. |
| 17 | Memphis 901 | 6 | -11 | 8-8-4 | 8.63 | Memphis had no response to Tulsa in the 0-1 loss with just 1 shot on goal. Worse, they ended with 9 men as Marlon and Abdoulaye Cissoko were both justifiably ejected. They get San Antonio Saturday. |
| 18 | Indy Eleven | 16 | -2 | 9-6-4 | 7.41 | Indy’s 2 shots on target were neither much of a challenge for Tampa’s Jordan Farr as they went down easily 0-2 at home. 0-2-2 in the last four games. To Tulsa Friday. |
| 19 | Oakland Roots | 13 | -6 | 9-10-2 | 4.88 | For the second straight game Oakland gave up 5 goals. At least they scored 2 this week. They lose to Sacramento Republic 2-5. Will Miami score 5 on them Saturday? |
| 20 | San Antonio | 21 | 1 | 5-9-5 | 3.59 | What is happening in San Antonio? The 0-2 loss in Orange County was another poor showing in a season with just 5 wins. 1-6-0 in the last 7. They travel to Memphis Saturday. |
| 21 | Phoenix Rising | 22 | 1 | 6-7-6 | 2.98 | Phoenix scored late in both halves to win 2-0 over El Paso and could have scored a couple more in a relatively easy game. To Hartford Friday. |
| 22 | Hartford Athletic | 20 | -2 | 5-11-2 | 1.08 | Hartford went down 1-3 in Pittsburgh in a wild game that was actually a bit closer than the score suggests. Keeper Greg Monroe’s intercepted pass for a goal was embarrassing though. Phoenix visits Friday. |
| 23 | The Miami FC | 24 | 1 | 2-16-2 | -2.11 | Miami had no real response to Charleston, going down 0-2. Just 1 shot on target in the game. The league’s worst record stays that way. Oakland crosses the country Saturday though. |
| 24 | El Paso Locomotive | 23 | -1 | 3-13-3 | -4.57 | El Paso had a chance early but blew it and were thoroughly outplayed the rest of the way in the 0-2 loss in Phoenix. New Mexico late Saturday. |
