The comeback
11.1 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 11.1 years, then back at Small Town Smoke Down (2026-05-30).
- last seen 2015-04-17
- back 2026-05-30
SOUTHPAW BBQ
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1488
peak 1488 · rated over 1 contests ⓘ
Contests
3
in the data
First seen
2026-05-30
latest 2026-05-30
Best ToY finish
#916
Master 2026
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
of 3 contests
Avg finish
top 92%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
0%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 167.98 · weakest Brisket (139.95)
Road miles
1,868
mi across 3 mapped stops · furthest 1848 mi
Master avg
627.81 / 720
1 Master contest · 0 GCs
Still inside their first twelve months: see what a first season usually looks like.
Storylines (1 found in this team's record)
Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
SOUTHPAW BBQ has 1 rated contest — short of the five it takes to earn a power ranking — so this rating has barely moved off the 1500 every team starts on and 149 rated teams sit within a point of it. Read the list as the nearest company at a number nobody here has moved far from, not as a verdict on who this team belongs with.
#3758 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1488
No shared contest yet.
A longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 3.
⚔ Head-to-head#3748 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 80%
- Peak
- 1488
No shared contest yet.
4 straight overall top-10s says this rating is a moving target.
⚔ Head-to-head#3730 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1502
No shared contest yet.
Level with SOUTHPAW BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#3740 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1504
No shared contest yet.
A longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 3.
⚔ Head-to-head#3764 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1503
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before SOUTHPAW BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3760 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1505
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2019, 7 years before SOUTHPAW BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 164.5256 | 164.5256 | 164.53 | top 79% |
| Pork Ribs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 155.3484 | 155.3484 | 155.35 | top 96% |
| Pork | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 167.9772 | 167.9772 | 167.98 | top 75% |
| Brisket | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 139.9544 | 139.9544 | 139.95 | top 96% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
The story so far (14 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
0 yrs
2026-05-30 → 2026-05-30
Busiest season
2026
1 contest
Contests a season
1
across 3 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
GA
2 of 3 contests · 2 states/provinces in all
Contests visited
1
0 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Chicken
1 entries · 0 wins · 0 calls
Strongest meat
Pork
averages 167.98 · weakest Brisket (139.95)
Walk rate
0%
a top-10 call in 0 of 3 contests
Overall top-10 rate
0%
0 of 3 contests
Master average
627.81
out of 720 · 1 contest · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
23
2–21 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
1,868
3 mapped stops · furthest 1,848 mi
Longest layoff
11.1 yrs
2015-04-17 → 2026-05-30
Power rating
1488
peak 1488 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2014
- First tracked contest Classic City BBQ Fest & Tailgate Show (GBC Qualifier)
- 2026
- Career-best overall score627.8056 Small Town Smoke Down
- Career-best single call (Pork)167.9772 Small Town Smoke Down
- Most recent contest Small Town Smoke Down
Category scores over time
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 92% | 87.2% | 87.2% |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-30 | Small Town Smoke Down Bassano, AB | 22 / 24 (627.8056) | 19 (164.5256) | 23 (155.3484) | 18 (167.9772) | 23 (139.9544) |
| 2015-04-17 | Cornelia Apple Blossom BBQ Festival Cornelia, GA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2014-08-14 | Classic City BBQ Fest & Tailgate Show (GBC Qualifier) Athens, GA | — | — | — | — | — |
Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)
Team of the Year standings (rank per category by season — year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Master | #916 (64 pts) | #966 (79 pts) | #1234 (59 pts) | #917 (84 pts) | #1152 (59 pts) |