League One Power Rankings

League One Power Rankings - Week 26

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 09/28/21, 4:30PM EDT

Home defeats for Chattanooga, Omaha mean a new No. 1, and a little playoff intrigue

One month to go, and there’s still close to everything to be decided in terms of the USL League One Playoffs.

The one thing we’ve been pretty certain of up until now, though, was Chattanooga Red Wolves SC and Union Omaha were going to be sitting in the top two of the standings, and with a bye to the Semifinals and undefeated home records, it was a pretty good chance we’d see them square off in the League One Final.

This weekend might have changed that, though, even if only a little. The end of Chattanooga’s 13-game home undefeated streak at CHI Memorial Stadium to the New England Revolution II and Omaha’s 10-game streak at Morrison Stadium to FC Tucson was intriguing, since there’s a chance both of those matchups could materialize again this postseason.

To do that, both Tucson and New England have to keep on their own winning paths. Each side has crucial games this weekend with the Revolution II at home to Forward Madison FC on Friday evening before Tucson plays host to North Texas SC on Saturday night.

But for those two teams, and the others looking to fill out the remaining four slots in the postseason field, there could be some inspiration that neither of the teams at the top are invincible. As we’ve seen in the USL Championship over the years, dominant regular seasons can often fall by the wayside when the playoffs arrive – only one of the six teams to record the most regular season points in the league won the Championship Final.

Both the Red Wolves and los Buhos should heed the warning this past weekend brought.

Here’s how everything else looks right now. As always, feel free to come and yell at me on Twitter (@NJEMurray).

Biggest Movers

4 NE

3 TRM

Rank	Team	Change	Summary
1	FC Tucson (9-8-6) Week 26: v. NTX	1 Last Week: 2	Tucson had to withstand pressure from Omaha on Saturday night but came through with an impressive victory thanks to Charlie Dennis’ early penalty kick. The work toward a playoff place continues Saturday, though.
2	Union Omaha (10-3-8) Week 26: @ TRM	1 Last Week: 1	Damia Viader’s penalty kick off the post summed up Omaha’s night as they recorded 18 shots and put just one on target. The silver lining was the Red Wolves’ loss keeps Omaha right where it needs to be.
3	Greenville Triumph SC (8-7-8) Week 26: v. FTL	Last Week: 3	The glass-half-full view is Greenville is now undefeated in four games. The glass-half-empty view is it’s also in the cutoff for the playoff positions based on available points, which means the pressure’s rising.
4	New England Revolution II (9-9-4) Week 26: v. MAD	4 Last Week: 8	Justin Rennicks’ incredible solo goal landed on ESPN’s Futbol Americas on Monday night as the Revolution II boosted their playoff chances by giving the Red Wolves a taste of their late game magic.
5	Chattanooga Red Wolves SC (10-3-10) Week 26: @ RIC	1 Last Week: 4	Two losses in three games, including an end to the club’s home undefeated streak? That wasn’t in the plan for Chattanooga as it faces a Richmond Kickers side in must-win territory on Saturday.
6	North Texas SC (7-7-9) Week 26: @ TUC	1 Last Week: 7	Nicky Hernandez’s brilliant finish got North Texas a win it had to have in North Carolina. Now it gets to try and topple FC Tucson and its undefeated streak on Saturday.
7	Forward Madison FC (6-4-11) Week 26: @ NE	1 Last Week: 6	In theory, the Flamingos are in good position with their games in hand to pass multiple teams above them. In practice, the side’s league-high 11 draws do not inspire confidence they will.
8	Richmond Kickers (7-8-7) Week 26: v. CHA	2 Last Week: 10	It’s hard to understate the impact the Kickers have received from Emiliano Terzaghi in the past two seasons. He’s now scored more goals (23) than anyone except Matt Delicate in the club’s eight seasons in the Championship.
9	South Georgia Tormenta FC (8-11-5) Week 26: v. OMA	3 Last Week: 6	The bye week didn’t go too badly in terms of other club’s results for Tormenta, but they’ll still need a big performance on Friday night at home to Omaha.
10	Toronto FC II (6-9-8) Week 26: v. NC	1 Last Week: 9	TFC II can’t find a win right now, and with a four-point gap to the playoff places with five games to go that must change on Friday against North Carolina FC.
11	Fort Lauderdale CF (7-10-6) Week 26: @ GVL	Last Week: 11	Fort Lauderdale’s next four games are against teams in the top seven in the standings. That brings opportunity, as any victory automatically reels each one in that much closer, but defeat could mean the end of the line.
12	North Carolina FC (5-13-4) Week 26: @ TOR	Last Week: 12	NCFC couldn’t spoil North Texas SC’s playoff hopes on Sunday afternoon, it’ll try again on Friday evening to knock Toronto FC II’s chances on the head.