Downtown BBQ Throwdown

2017-02-17 – 2017-02-18 · Boca Raton, FL · 📍 Mizner Park Ampetheater

Grand Champion: SMOKIN OFF THE GRID (689.1084) · 26 teams

Reserve Champion: 🥈 Uncle Kenny's Take-Away

🥇

SMOKIN OFF THE GRID

689.1084 · Master Series — Overall

🥈

Uncle Kenny's Take-Away

685.6228 · Master Series — Overall

🥉

TILLMAN'S BBQ

685.0284 · Master Series — Overall

The contest at a glance (read off the scored boards)

How the field scored

Overall totals, every team on the board — tall stacks are where the pack sat.

302.32 median 646.50 689.11 🏆

How the meats cooked

Every board on one scale — the bar runs last score to first, the dot is the median.

Chicken 178.86
Pork Ribs 175.41
Pork 174.27
Brisket 178.86

116.55 178.86

Winning score by edition

What it has taken to win here, 2016 to 2022 — this edition picked out.

Entries

4 judged meats

Top score

689.1084

Winning margin

3.4856

GC over RC

Field average

613.42

302.32689.11

median 646.50 · last place to winner

Perfect 180s

Tightest race

Pork

2.8572 pts across the top 5

Top-10 cutoff

660.9944

302.32689.11

10th place overall

Field spread

386.7884

winner to last place

Most consistent

SMOKIN OFF THE GRID

avg finish 4.25 across 4 meats

Double threats

teams with 2+ top-5 calls

Widest winning margin

Chicken

won by 3.4516 pts — TILLMAN'S BBQ

How hot was the win?

Top 73%

beats 27% of 4707 Master Series wins in the data

Came back for more

0 of 26 teams from the previous edition returned

Form held

Moderate

ρ = -0.35 between pre-contest rating and finish

Field strength

1540

avg power rating going in · stronger than 29% of contests

Top-rated in the field

HOT WACHULA'S

rated 1773 pre-contest

Storylines (8 found in this contest's numbers)

Everything below is read straight out of the results — the number on each card is the one that made it a story.

An upset on the books

17-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings

The ratings favoured the top seed the other 83 times in 100

SMOKIN OFF THE GRID came in rated below the field's top team, HOT WACHULA'S, and took the Grand Championship anyway — roughly a 17-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings.

champion 1494
top seed 1773

Won without a category win

4 of 4 meats called to the stage

SMOKIN OFF THE GRID won the Grand Championship without winning a single meat — 4 calls from 4 boards, best of them 3rd. Consistency beat fireworks.

Chicken 3rd
Pork Ribs 7th
Pork 3rd
Brisket 4th

A first Grand Championship

4 tracked contests to get there

This was SMOKIN OFF THE GRID's first Grand Championship in the data — it arrived at their 4th tracked contest.

A rookie on the podium

3rd at their first tracked contest

Tillman's BBQ finished 3rd overall in the first contest the data has them cooking at all.

Photo finishes

Tie closest of 8 calls decided inside half a point

Chicken places 8–9: Uncle Kenny's Take-Away and SMOKED QUE tied on 167.3828 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Pork Ribs places 3–4: SWEET SMOKE Q FLORIDA and WHISKEY BENT BBQ - FL tied on 170.2744 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Pork places 3–4: SMOKIN OFF THE GRID and SMOKED QUE tied on 173.1200 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker.

Chicken 8–9 · tie
Pork Ribs 3–4 · tie
Pork 3–4 · tie
Pork 7–8 · 0.0116

A double category winner

2 category wins in a day

SMOKIN BLUE Q FL won Pork, Brisket — a double.

Pork 1st
Brisket 1st

A contest record in chicken

178.8572 best chicken ever cooked here

TILLMAN'S BBQ turned in 178.8572 in chicken — past the 178.2972 that had stood across 2 earlier editions.

old best 178.2972
across 2 past editions

Back to defend

1 past champions back in the field

Past winners of this contest cooked this edition: WHISKEY BENT BBQ - FL (won 2016).

WHISKEY BENT BBQ - FL · 2016

Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)

Category showdown (top / average / median score per meat)

Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)

Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)

This contest over the years full contest page →

Date	Where	Venue	Teams	High score	Grand Champion	Reserve Champion
2016-04-29	Boca Raton, FL	100 NE Mizner Blvd	16	695.9656	WHISKEY BENT BBQ - FL	Uncle Kenny's Take-Away
2016-10-07	Hattiesburg, MS	600 Walnut ST.	26	694.7884	BOOTYQUE	KILLER HOGS
2017-02-17 ← this one	Boca Raton, FL	Mizner Park Ampetheater	26	689.1084	SMOKIN OFF THE GRID	Uncle Kenny's Take-Away
2022-04-22	Ripley, WV	100 Court Street on the Town Square	17	703.9544	D'Qued Barbeque	Optimus Swine

What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)

Category	1st	5th	10th
Chicken	178.8572	172.5716	166.2400
Pork Ribs	175.4056	169.6800	163.9888
Pork	174.2744	171.4172	165.1316
Brisket	178.8572	173.7028	165.6800

Official results on kcbs.us ↗

Master Series

Overall

26 entries · top 689.1084 · median 646.4972

#	Team	Score
1	SMOKIN OFF THE GRID	689.1084
2	Uncle Kenny's Take-Away	685.6228
3	TILLMAN'S BBQ	685.0284
4	UNCLE TOAD'S COMPETITION BBQ	683.9316
5	SMOKIN BLUE Q FL	681.6116
6	BLITZKRIEG BBQ	679.3372
7	TWISTED OAK BARBECUE	678.9028
8	SMOKED QUE	674.1600
9	SWEET SMOKE Q FLORIDA	661.6116
10	HOT WACHULA'S	660.9944
11	WHISKEY BENT BBQ - FL	659.9088
12	BIG DADDY Q - FL	654.6396
13	FLORIDA'S DIVINE SWINE	646.7316
14	R&R BBQUE OF MIAMI, FL	646.2628
15	EAST COAST BBQ	628.3088
16	Memphis Smoke BBQ	623.9772
17	RUNNIN' THRU THE SMOKE	619.8512
18	Smoke Meat Every Day	616.9828
19	E & J Texas BBQ	603.9544
20	Beach Brothers BBQ	586.7204
21	Unique Smoke & Que	555.4628
22	COCONUT GROVE SMOKIN SAILORS	554.6744
23	LOVE BOCA	548.3656
24	Smoke Shack	526.3768
25	My Pure Life	394.1824
26	The Brothers of St. Gregory	302.3200

Chicken

26 entries · top 178.8572 · median 161.9600

#	Team	Score
1	TILLMAN'S BBQ	178.8572
2	TWISTED OAK BARBECUE	175.4056
3	SMOKIN OFF THE GRID	174.8456
4	SMOKIN BLUE Q FL	173.7028
5	WHISKEY BENT BBQ - FL	172.5716
6	UNCLE TOAD'S COMPETITION BBQ	171.9656
7	R&R BBQUE OF MIAMI, FL	170.8572
8	Uncle Kenny's Take-Away	167.3828
9	SMOKED QUE	167.3828
10	BLITZKRIEG BBQ	166.2400
11	BIG DADDY Q - FL	163.9544
12	HOT WACHULA'S	162.8000
13	SWEET SMOKE Q FLORIDA	162.2400
14	FLORIDA'S DIVINE SWINE	161.6800
15	RUNNIN' THRU THE SMOKE	161.0968
16	E & J Texas BBQ	156.5716
17	Smoke Meat Every Day	155.9656
18	EAST COAST BBQ	150.1944
19	LOVE BOCA	149.1312
20	Beach Brothers BBQ	147.9544
21	Smoke Shack	147.4856
22	Memphis Smoke BBQ	147.3828
23	COCONUT GROVE SMOKIN SAILORS	145.6916
24	The Brothers of St. Gregory	145.0968
25	Unique Smoke & Que	137.7144
26	My Pure Life	131.9540

Pork Ribs

25 entries · top 175.4056 · median 163.3712

#	Team	Score
1	Uncle Kenny's Take-Away	175.4056
2	BLITZKRIEG BBQ	174.8572
3	SWEET SMOKE Q FLORIDA	170.2744
4	WHISKEY BENT BBQ - FL	170.2744
5	TILLMAN'S BBQ	169.6800
6	FLORIDA'S DIVINE SWINE	166.2744
7	SMOKIN OFF THE GRID	165.1428
8	HOT WACHULA'S	165.0972
9	TWISTED OAK BARBECUE	164.5828
10	UNCLE TOAD'S COMPETITION BBQ	163.9888
11	SMOKED QUE	163.9772
12	Smoke Meat Every Day	163.9772
13	BIG DADDY Q - FL	163.3712
14	R&R BBQUE OF MIAMI, FL	162.8112
15	Memphis Smoke BBQ	160.0228
16	RUNNIN' THRU THE SMOKE	159.3828
17	The Brothers of St. Gregory	157.2232
18	SMOKIN BLUE Q FL	154.7772
19	EAST COAST BBQ	153.6572
20	E & J Texas BBQ	151.4056
21	Beach Brothers BBQ	150.8000
22	COCONUT GROVE SMOKIN SAILORS	147.4400
23	Unique Smoke & Que	138.8112
24	Smoke Shack	127.9884
25	LOVE BOCA	127.3600

Pork

25 entries · top 174.2744 · median 163.4172

#	Team	Score
1	SMOKIN BLUE Q FL	174.2744
2	TWISTED OAK BARBECUE	173.1544
3	SMOKIN OFF THE GRID	173.1200
4	SMOKED QUE	173.1200
5	UNCLE TOAD'S COMPETITION BBQ	171.4172
6	TILLMAN'S BBQ	170.2628
7	FLORIDA'S DIVINE SWINE	167.3944
8	WHISKEY BENT BBQ - FL	167.3828
9	BIG DADDY Q - FL	165.6684
10	Uncle Kenny's Take-Away	165.1316
11	HOT WACHULA'S	164.5600
12	BLITZKRIEG BBQ	164.5372
13	SWEET SMOKE Q FLORIDA	163.4172
14	EAST COAST BBQ	159.3600
15	Memphis Smoke BBQ	158.2972
16	RUNNIN' THRU THE SMOKE	158.2972
17	R&R BBQUE OF MIAMI, FL	158.2856
18	E & J Texas BBQ	156.0000
19	Beach Brothers BBQ	154.8688
20	Smoke Meat Every Day	149.6684
21	LOVE BOCA	138.2400
22	Unique Smoke & Que	137.7944
23	My Pure Life	134.2512
24	COCONUT GROVE SMOKIN SAILORS	133.0628
25	Smoke Shack	116.5484

Brisket

25 entries · top 178.8572 · median 158.2744

#	Team	Score
1	SMOKIN BLUE Q FL	178.8572
2	Uncle Kenny's Take-Away	177.7028
3	UNCLE TOAD'S COMPETITION BBQ	176.5600
4	SMOKIN OFF THE GRID	176.0000
5	BLITZKRIEG BBQ	173.7028
6	SMOKED QUE	169.6800
7	HOT WACHULA'S	168.5372
8	TILLMAN'S BBQ	166.2284
9	TWISTED OAK BARBECUE	165.7600
10	SWEET SMOKE Q FLORIDA	165.6800
11	EAST COAST BBQ	165.0972
12	BIG DADDY Q - FL	161.6456
13	Memphis Smoke BBQ	158.2744
14	R&R BBQUE OF MIAMI, FL	154.3088
15	FLORIDA'S DIVINE SWINE	151.3828
16	WHISKEY BENT BBQ - FL	149.6800
17	Smoke Meat Every Day	147.3716
18	Unique Smoke & Que	141.1428
19	RUNNIN' THRU THE SMOKE	141.0744
20	E & J Texas BBQ	139.9772
21	Smoke Shack	134.3544
22	LOVE BOCA	133.6344
23	Beach Brothers BBQ	133.0972
24	COCONUT GROVE SMOKIN SAILORS	128.4800
25	My Pure Life	127.9772

Downtown BBQ Throwdown

The contest at a glance (read off the scored boards)

How the field scored

How the meats cooked

Winning score by edition

Entries

Top score

Winning margin

Field average

Perfect 180s

Tightest race

Top-10 cutoff

Field spread

Most consistent

Double threats

Widest winning margin

How hot was the win?

Came back for more

Form held

Field strength

Top-rated in the field

Storylines (8 found in this contest's numbers)

An upset on the books

Won without a category win

A first Grand Championship

A rookie on the podium

Photo finishes

A double category winner

A contest record in chicken

Back to defend

Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)

Category showdown (top / average / median score per meat)

Score distribution

Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)

Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)

This contest over the years full contest page →

What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)

Official results on kcbs.us ↗

Master Series

Overall

Chicken

Pork Ribs

Pork

Brisket