The Football Forge Power Rankings: Week 34How it all ended up
And so the regular season ends, and the Forge Power Rankings are done for another year. It was a strange weekend in the USL Championship, with much of the playoff picture still undecided. As it turned, nothing changed in the East from last week, but six of the seven teams already qualified in the West changed seeding positions, with only already baked-in New Mexico United and Phoenix Rising in 8th sitting pat. Interestingly, every Eastern team except The™ Miami FC would have qualified in the West (although of course Miami helped out in that regard by losing so much). The East also went 5-1 over the West in this final weekend.
In the Power Rankings, there was a ton of movement:
| Rank | Team | Previous | Change | Record | Forge Factor | Note | This Week |
| 1 | Pittsburgh Riverhounds | 1 | 0 | 12-10-12 | 25.72 | Pittsburgh didn’t need an own goal to down El Paso, but it was all over after 18 minutes. 2-0 in a typically low-intensity Riverhounds performance. | @ Charleston (Sat.) |
| 2 | Rhode Island FC | 4 | 2 | 12-7-15 | 20.24 | Rhode Island got the warm-up game for the playoffs as they win a laugher over Miami 8-1. JJ Williams got a hat-trick too. | @ Indy (Sun.) |
| 3 | Detroit City | 5 | 2 | 15-8-11 | 19.52 | Detroit breezed to a 4-1 win in San Antonio, playing up a man for 45 minutes. And it could have been more lopsided than that. | v. Tampa Bay (Sat.) |
| 4 | Orange County | 2 | -2 | 13-14-7 | 18.86 | Orange County took the lead three times in entertaining late game as they beat Hartford 3-2. With that they edged up to 6th in the standings. | @ Memphis (Sat.) |
| 5 | North Carolina FC | 6 | 1 | 13-12-9 | 17.99 | North Carolina and Las Vegas played a tight and entertaining game. The home side came out on top 2-1 though to ice the last Eastern playoff spot. | @ Louisville (Sat.) |
| 6 | Memphis 901 | 12 | 6 | 14-11-9 | 17.43 | Memphis had just 3 shots on target. That and some heroics from GK Tyler Deric got them the 3-2 win in New Mexico. | v. Orange County (Sat.) |
| 7 | Louisville City | 9 | 2 | 24-6-4 | 17.32 | Louisville went down a goal early but roared back in their usual fashion to down Phoenix 4-1 and tie the season win record with 24. Hard to see them not going all the way. | v. North Carolina (Sat.) |
| 8 | Colorado Springs Switchbacks | 19 | 11 | 15-12-7 | 12.59 | In a game that meant the difference between 2nbd and 5th for both teams, Switchbacks sub Juan Tejada got the 85th-minute decider to edge Sacramento 1-0. | v. Oakland (Sat.) |
| 9 | San Antonio | 10 | 1 | 9-15-10 | 12.23 | San Antonio with 39 points had their worst season since 2019, ending it with a red card and a 1-4 loss to Detroit. Some soul-searching needs to be done now. | N/A |
| 10 | Las Vegas Lights | 8 | -2 | 13-10-11 | 11.90 | The Lights took an early lead but couldn’t hold it in a 1-2 loss in North Carolina. Two straight losses was not the way to end their best-ever season. | v. Sacramento (Fri.) |
| 11 | Hartford Athletic | 7 | -4 | 12-14-8 | 11.61 | A big travel week and a bizarre end to the year for Hartford. Head coach Brendan Burke was red-carded in the midweek 2-2 draw in Tampa Bay, then they lost 2-3 in Orange County. They were already eliminated but didn’t give up easily. | N/A |
| 12 | Birmingham Legion | 23 | 11 | 13-15-6 | 11.22 | Oh, if they could have done this all year. Another injury-weakened lineup ran riot over the Oakland Roots 5-0. Best result of the season by far. | N/A |
| 13 | Indy Eleven | 3 | -10 | 14-11-9 | 10.73 | The Eleven were already locked in to the 4th spot in the East and looked like they didn’t have much to play for. A lackluster 0-3 loss in Tampa Bay. | v. Rhode Island (Sun.) |
| 14 | Charleston Battery | 17 | 3 | 18-6-10 | 10.66 | The Battery were back to full strength after resting a couple of games. They win a hard-fought contest 2-1 over Loudoun. | v. Pittsburgh (Sat.) |
| 15 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 22 | 7 | 14-12-8 | 10.02 | The Rowdies got some big help from the officials in the 2-2 draw with Hartford (what should have been a PK became a red card for Brendan Burke). That clinched a playoff spot. The 3-0 win over Indy was basically a walk. | @ Detroit (Sat.) |
| 16 | Phoenix Rising | 11 | -5 | 11-14-9 | 9.82 | Phoenix could have moved up to 7th in the West with a win. Doing that in Louisville is a tall order. They lose 1-4, predictably and stick in 8th. | @ New Mexico (Sun.) |
| 17 | Loudoun United | 16 | -1 | 11-14-9 | 6.72 | Loudoun needed to win to get their franchise-first playoff spot. They didn’t give up but couldn’t close the deal, losing 1-2 in Charleston. | N/A |
| 18 | FC Tulsa | 18 | 0 | 13-10-11 | 6.65 | In the only entirely meaningless game of the weekend, Tulsa beat Monterey Bay 2-1. | N/A |
| 19 | Monterey Bay Union | 14 | -5 | 8-15-10 | 6.51 | Was appointing Jordan Stewart head coach a good move? They lose 1-2 in Tulsa and went 1-7-4 under the new management. Not good. | N/A |
| 20 | El Paso Locomotive | 13 | -7 | 8-18-8 | 6.47 | The Locomotive finish a forgettable season in typical style with an own goal as they capitulate 0-2 in Pittsburgh. | N/A |
| 21 | Oakland Roots | 15 | -6 | 13-16-5 | 4.57 | A 0-5 shellacking by an already-eliminated team is not how you want to enter the playoffs. A shaky end to the season for a team that has been up and down all year. | @ Colorado Springs (Sat.) |
| 22 | New Mexico United | 20 | -2 | 18-11-5 | 4.47 | New Mexico may be ruing some missed scoring opportunities as they lost 2-3 to Memphis. Top of the West but just 2 points from the last 5 games is not good. | v. Phoenix (Sun.) |
| 23 | Sacramento Republic | 18 | -5 | 13-10-11 | 4.26 | Sacramento had 17 shots but only 3 on goal and couldn’t convert in a very testy game against Colorado Springs. They fall into a road playoff spot. | @ Las Vegas (Fri.) |
| 24 | The Miami FC | 24 | 0 | 3-29-2 | -12.76 | Just when you thought Miami couldn’t get worse they give up 8 goals to Rhode Island. At least they scored one. Where will this team be next year? | N/A |
