Knoxville punched its ticket to the 2024 USL League One Playoffs presented, by Terminix earlier this month to lock up the first postseason appearance of its professional era and first overall since qualifying for the 2022 USL League Two Playoffs in its inaugural season.

After finishing in eighth place in the club's first USL League One season last year and subsequently missing out on the postseason, Knoxville's clear improvement in 2024 has suggested that they very well could be a contender to claim the USL League One title. Here are three reasons why they'll be the last team standing, and one reason why they won't.

1. Defense, Defense, Defense

Knoxville have conceded the fewest goals in league play this season at just 16 and are tied for the second-most clean sheets with seven. While the team does have specific areas with recognizable contributions to their success, such as current Golden Glove leader and goalkeeper Sean Lewis' league-leading save percentage of 78%, the team collectively has high defensive standards.

One Knox sit middle of the pack in total shots faced, but are second in total blocks, as they often can snuff out any real attacking threats as they come. On top of this, they are just one of two sides to have zero errors leading to opposition goals, alongside Northern Colorado. Additionally, Knoxville are the only side all season to have not conceded a penalty. You know what they say: 'defense wins championships.'

2. Possessional Press

Knoxville's defensive efforts do not come explicitly from their backline though, as their collective playstyle combines a focus on maintaining possession with keeping the ball in their opponent's half, regardless of which team has it. One Knox places third in the league for a handful of statistics that help visualize their playstyle, such as completed passes into the final attacking third, total passes in the opposition half and total possession won in the midfield third.

These numbers come alongside an average possession statistic of 52%, which shows that they win the ball in middle-to-high areas of the pitch often, transition into playing with heavy attacking possession to try and create goals, and when the ball is lost, the focus shifts immediately to winning it back before their opponents can cross over into OKSC's half of the pitch. This tactical approach is prone to creating headaches for other teams, as when they escape from Knoxville's press, they then have to attack against a defense currently earning league-high accolades.

3. Competitiveness

While Knoxville's record across both League One and USL Jägermeister Cup play against teams currently ahead of them in the league table is only 1-5-2, it's important to look beyond the surface here. Four of those losses had just one goal to separate the two participants, as well as Knoxville being forced down to 10 men in losses against Omaha and Greenville.

A loss is still a loss, but it would be a disservice to disregard how Knoxville competed against these teams, especially since they have lost just one game to teams sitting below them in the table. Interestingly enough, this one loss came against the Richmond Kickers. This factor within their performances should suggest that they have what it takes to get results against high-quality competition, but they just have to see it through if they want to advance into the latter stages of the playoffs.

Why Knoxville Won’t Win it All

Goals have come in more scarcity than they would have liked. In league play, Knoxville has scored the joint-least amount of total goals while also having scored the most penalties with four, meaning just 19 of their goals have come from open play. This equates to having just under one goal from open play per match. 

If Knoxville wants to compete for the League One title, this should be an area of concern given that they'll have to face teams who have conceded less than 20 total goals all season, have scored over 30 goals all season excluding any converted penalties, or have met both of these criteria simultaneously. While Knoxville are not solely reliant on penalties to get results, they have helped get them over the line on a few occasions, and there is no guarantee a run to the 2024 USL League One Final would be another one of them.