The comeback
2.8 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 2.8 years, then back at Smoke On the Diamond (BACKYARD ONLY) (Mar 22, 2019).
- last seen May 27, 2016
- back Mar 22, 2019
Blue Creek BBQ
Blue Creek BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 6 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2019 and 2022. Their best overall finish is 8th of 17 at the Downtown BBQ Throwdown (2022).
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1490
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 3
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
Mar 22, 2019
latest Apr 22, 2022 · 3.1 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
1
1 podium
Overall top-10s
1
17% of 6 contests
Avg finish
top 64%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
17%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 153.31 · weakest Pork (150.26)
Road miles
769
across 6 mapped stops · furthest 422 mi
Schedule strength
43%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1556)
Purse competed for
$23K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 2 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
291.88 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
Backyard (3-meat) avg
480.61 / 540
1 Backyard (3-meat) contest · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Backyard out of 360, Backyard (3-meat) out of 540), so they're kept separate — averaging them together would be misleading.
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Blue Creek BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
Blue Creek BBQ has 3 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 168 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#3,687 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1504
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#3,668 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1502
Level with Blue Creek BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#3,673 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1506
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 3 years before Blue Creek BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,652 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1490
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 3 years before Blue Creek BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,681 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1490
They were already cooking in 2013, 6 years before Blue Creek BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#3,698 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1489
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 3 years before Blue Creek BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 173.2000 | 133.0052 | 153.30 | top 50% |
| Pork Ribs | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 162.8684 | 146.8000 | 153.31 | top 64% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 155.9772 | 144.5368 | 150.26 | top 85% |
“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.
By field size and state
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 2 | 0 | top 74% |
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 0 | top 46% |
More numbers
Contests a season
1
across 6 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
TN
3 of 6 contests · 3 states in all
Contests visited
3
a different one every time
Opponents faced
81
finished ahead 33 times, behind 54
Longest layoff
2.8 yrs
May 27, 2016 → Mar 22, 2019
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20227 milestones
- First call Downtown BBQ Throwdown
- First category win (Chicken) Downtown BBQ Throwdown
- First overall top-10 Downtown BBQ Throwdown
- Career-best overall score480.6052 Downtown BBQ Throwdown
- Career-best single call (Chicken)173.2000 Downtown BBQ Throwdown
- Peak power rating (1490) Downtown BBQ Throwdown
- Most recent contest Downtown BBQ Throwdown
20141 milestone
- First tracked contest Lewisburg Rotary Club BBQ CookOff
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +4.7 | Downtown BBQ Throwdown | Apr 22, 2022 |
| +0.6 | Almost Heaven BBQ Bash | Jun 18, 2021 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -15.6 | Smoke On the Diamond (BACKYARD ONLY) | Mar 22, 2019 |
Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100% | top 47% | 89% | 89% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 46% | 84.4% | 84.4% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 100% | 77.7% | 77.7% |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 2022 | Downtown BBQ Throwdown 🏅 Ripley, WV | 8 / 17 (480.6052) | 1 (173.2000) | 9 (162.8684) | 15 (144.5368) | — |
| Jun 18, 2021 | Almost Heaven BBQ Bash 🏅 Roanoke, WV | 13 / 28 (303.9544) | 12 (153.6800) | 13 (150.2744) | — | — |
| Mar 22, 2019 | Smoke On the Diamond (BACKYARD ONLY) Brookwood, AL | 17 / 17 (279.8052) | 17 (133.0052) | 16 (146.8000) | 14 (155.9772) | — |
| May 27, 2016 | Lewisburg Rotary Club BBQ Cookoff Lewisburg, TN | — | — | — | — | — |
| May 22, 2015 | Lewisburg Rotary Club BBQ CookOff Lewisburg, TN | — | — | — | — | — |
| May 24, 2014 | Lewisburg Rotary Club BBQ CookOff Lewisburg, TN | — | — | — | — | — |