Decided by a tiebreaker
Tie
identical totals at the top
The top two teams finished on identical totals — the Grand Championship came down to the KCBS tiebreaker rules.
2nd Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship
Mar 13–14, 2020 · Olathe, KS · 📍 Lone Elm Soccer Complex · State championship
Reps: Forrest Bruce, Larry Hadley, Peg Rogers · Prize money: $10,000
Heavy Smoke BBQ won Grand Champion at the 2nd Annual Qlathe BBQ Championship on March 13, 2020 in Olathe, KS at Lone Elm Soccer Complex, scoring 697.1200 in a field of 68 teams. ALL FORKED UP FOR Q took Reserve Grand Champion with 697.1200. Category winners: Chicken — MAD MUTT'S BBQ (180.0000); Pork Ribs — BOOMERANG BBQ (180.0000); Pork — MEAT RUSHMORE BBQ (180.0000); Brisket — HIGH i QUE (178.8572).
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.
516.55
median 667.33
697.12 🏆
How the meats cooked
Every board on one scale — the bar runs last score to first, the dot is the median.
- Chicken 180 🔥
- Pork Ribs 180 🔥
- Pork 180 🔥
- Brisket 178.86
138.17
180
Entries
68
4 judged meats
Top score
697.1200
Winning margin
Tie
identical totals — KCBS tiebreaker
Field average
660.16
516.55697.12
median 667.33 · last place to winner
Perfect 180s
4 🔥
Tightest race
Pork
2.2972 pts across the top 5
Top-10 cutoff
685.1088
516.55697.12
10th place overall
Field spread
180.5712
winner to last place
Prize money
$10,000
on the line
Double threats
3
teams with 2+ top-5 calls
How hot was the win?
Top 45%
beats 55% of 4711 Master Series wins in the data
Form held
Strong
ρ = -0.71 between pre-contest rating and finish
Field strength
1,593
avg power rating going in · stronger than 73% of contests
Storylines (7 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
19-in-100
shot on pre-contest ratings
The ratings favoured the top seed the other 81 times in 100
Heavy Smoke BBQ came in rated below the field's top team, BOOMERANG BBQ, and took the Grand Championship anyway — roughly a 19-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings.
- champion 1738
- top seed 1992
Won without a category win
2 of 4
meats called to the stage
Heavy Smoke BBQ won the Grand Championship without winning a single meat — 2 calls from 4 boards, best of them 2nd. Consistency beat fireworks.
- Chicken 2nd
- Pork Ribs 17th
- Pork 6th
- Brisket 24th
A day of perfect scores
4
perfect 180s
4 perfect 180s were scored at this contest — every judge at the table handing back a nine.
- MAD MUTT'S BBQ · Chicken
- Heavy Smoke BBQ · Chicken
- MEAT RUSHMORE BBQ · Pork
A knife fight at the top
2.3200
points across the top five
First to fifth in the overall standings covered just 2.3200 points — 3 teams sat within a single point of the lead.
- 1st Heavy Smoke BBQ
- 2nd ALL FORKED UP FOR Q
- 3rd MEAT RUSHMORE BBQ
- 4th 913 BBQ
- 5th MAN MEAT BBQ
Photo finishes
Tie
closest of 17 calls decided inside half a point
Chicken places 1–2: MAD MUTT'S BBQ and Heavy Smoke BBQ tied on 180.0000 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Chicken places 4–5: BOOMERANG BBQ and PORKY MCBEEF AND THE CLUCKERS tied on 176.5600 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Chicken places 7–8: KEEP CALM & SAUCE ON and NA-DA-BONE BBQ tied on 175.4400 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker.
- Chicken 1–2 · tie
- Chicken 4–5 · tie
- Chicken 7–8 · tie
- Pork Ribs 3–4 · tie
One of the big ones
68
teams on the grounds
Bigger than 95% of the 5,462 contests in the data
68 teams — bigger than 95% of the 5,462 contests in the data.
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)
What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)
| Category | 1st | 5th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 180 | 176.5600 | 174.2628 |
| Pork Ribs | 180 | 175.4172 | 174.2744 |
| Pork | 180 | 177.7028 | 175.4400 |
| Brisket | 178.8572 | 174.8572 | 172.0116 |
Official results on kcbs.us ↗
Master Series
Overall
68 entries · top 697.1200 · median 667.3256
Chicken
68 entries · top 180 · median 167.1144 · 🔥 perfect 180
Pork Ribs
67 entries · top 180 · median 167.9772 · 🔥 perfect 180
Pork
68 entries · top 180 · median 167.4172 · 🔥 perfect 180
Brisket
68 entries · top 178.8572 · median 164.8056