Power Rankings Overview: Pained RSL find spot slipping with poor form

Editor's note: Kreg Asay is back once again with an overview of the power rankings for the week. We've once again seen RSL drop in the standings, although it's quite interesting to note that, if we get back to our winning ways, we could end up first overall in power rankings across the season. Of course, San Jose provide a very strong threat, and right now, it's hard to look past them. At any rate, that's hardly a trophy or anything, although maybe it should be. "Most Popular," "Most Likely to Succeed" — something like that, right? Read on.

The sites used are:
*Soccer America (socceramerica.com)
*Major League Soccer (MLSSoccer.com)
*Goal (Goal.com)
*Soccer by Ives (soccerbyives.net)
*ESPN (espn.go.com/sports/soccer)
*SB Nation (sbnation.com)
*NBC Sports (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com)
*Sports Illustrated (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
*Bleacher Report (bleacherreport.com) - stopped after wk 11.

Seven teams remained static in the rankings; only San Jose received a unanimous ranking this week.  Portland / Toronto tied at 18th place with an average of 17.75 points.

Variances:
6 positions = DCU
5 positions = CC
4 positions = LAG, MI, CR, TFC
3 positions = SS, CF, RSL, VW, PU, CUSA, NER
2 positions = SKC, NYRB, HD, FCD, PT
0 positions = SJE

Site Consistency (in descending order best/worst):
This depends on how drastic changes are for a ranking between week.  Simply put, if a team drops more than 3 places in a ranking there better be an extremely good reason for it.

Goal.com
2 positions - 2 teams
1 position - 6 teams
No change - 11 teams

Soccer America
2 positions - 3 teams
1 position - 6 teams
No change - 10 teams

Sports Illustrated
2 positions - 4 teams
1 position - 10 teams
No change - 5 teams

SB Nation
3 positions - 1 team
2 positions - 3 teams
1 position - 6 teams
No change - 9 teams

NBC Sports
3 positions - 2 teams
2 positions - 1 team
1 position - 8 teams
No change - 8 teams

Major League Soccer
3 positions - 3 teams
2 positions - 3 teams
1 position - 9 teams
No change - 4 teams

Soccer by Ives
3 positions - 4 teams
2 positions - 1 team
1 position - 10 teams
No change - 4 teams

ESPN
4 positions - 1 team
3 positions - 3 teams
1 position - 10 teams
No change - 5 teams

Firsts and Lasts:
SJE have now been ranked #1 for 12 weeks, with RSL at 6, and SKC for 5 weeks.
TFC has been last for a total of 11 weeks (1 tied with PT), Portland for 7 weeks (1 tied with TFC), Montreal, Dallas and Philly held last for 2 weeks each, Chivas for 1 week.

Movers:
Jets: LAG (8th to 6th)
Bricks: CF (5th to 7th), VW (10th to 12th)
Glaciers: SJ, K.C., NY, D.C., FCD, CR, NER, TFC (no change)

There were no position changes on the table this week.

Toronto moved the least at -.01 point, with Dallas close behind moving +.02 points.  For the 5th week in a row Colorado moved the most at -.23 points.  The smallest gap in the season average is .13 between Chivas and New England.  The widest gulf lies between LA and Colorado at 2.31 points, with the gap between K.C. and Seattle a close second at 1.98; three other gaps of over 1 point also exist.

Firsts and Lasts:
*RSL has held the top spot on the season table for a total of 21 weeks (1 tied with SKC).  SKC held #1 for 3 weeks (1 tied with RSL).
*Toronto has been in 19th place for 16 weeks, with Montreal at 7 weeks.

Trends to watch:
With only .17 points separate RSL and San Jose.  The Quakes are certain to take over first on the season average next week.

Only .18 points separate Seattle and New York.  Hard to predict when the change will occur, but it seems certain to happen sometime during September.

Columbus is only .61 points behind Colorado, with Dallas .88 points behind Columbus.  Both are likely to pass the Rapids in September.

Montreal is rising fast.  They are .26 behind Chivas, who in turn is only .13 points behind New England.  Both should pass the Revolution in September, with Montreal also jumping over Chivas.