High-water mark
511.3944
career-best overall
94.7% of a perfect 540
Their best day on record: 511.3944 at Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) — 94.7% of a perfect 540.
- Backyard
- Apr 28, 2023
Word Brothers BBQ
Word Brothers BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 6 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2023 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 6th of 73 at the Poosa Q (2023). They are ranked #2545 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1519
peak 1526 · rated over 5 contests1 invitational or side-series contest not counted
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
Apr 28, 2023
latest May 1, 2026 · 3 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podium
Overall top-10s
1
17% of 6 contests
Avg finish
top 56%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
50%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±9.98
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 170.47 · weakest Chicken (165.88)
Road miles
798
across 6 mapped stops · furthest 140 mi
Schedule strength
60%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1576)
Purse competed for
$107K
listed at 6 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 2 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
334.24 / 360
4 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
Backyard (3-meat) avg
511.39 / 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.
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Word Brothers BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
82 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#2,539 of the rated field
- Contests
- 60
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 28%
- Peak
- 1575
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to Word Brothers BBQ)
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Word Brothers BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#2,543 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1519
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#2,537 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1519
Level with Word Brothers BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#2,547 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1519
Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Word Brothers BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#2,546 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 60%
- Peak
- 1519
They were already cooking in 2013, 10 years before Word Brothers BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#2,553 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1532
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 8 years before Word Brothers BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modest Meats | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80% | ⚔ compare |
| Bentley Que | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
| Deviant Smoke | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| LEE LA Q | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| NORALA BBQ TEAM | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 174.2744 | 159.9544 | 165.88 | top 56% |
| Pork Ribs | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 175.4400 | 162.8228 | 170.47 | top 35% |
| Pork | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 167.4056 | 167.4056 | 167.41 | top 58% |
“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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 3 | 0 | top 69% |
| Large (40+) | 3 | 0 | top 43% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poosa Q | 2 | 6 | 0 | top 39% | Oct 4, 2024 |
| Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) | 2 | 13 | 0 | top 43% | Apr 26, 2024 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2024
2 contests
Contests a season
1.5
across 4 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
AL
5 of 6 contests · 2 states in all
Contests visited
4
2 of them more than once
Opponents faced
255
finished ahead 209 times, behind 163
Longest layoff
1 yrs
Oct 4, 2024 → Oct 10, 2025
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20261 milestone
- Most recent contest Dr. George Smith BBQ Brawl (COMPETITOR SERIES)
20241 milestone
- Peak power rating (1526) Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
20236 milestones
- First tracked contest Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First call Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score511.3944 Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
- Career-best overall score511.3944 Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First overall top-10 Poosa Q
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)175.4400 Poosa Q
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +16.5 | Poosa Q | Oct 5, 2023 |
| +7.5 | Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) | Apr 28, 2023 |
| +1.9 | Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) | Apr 26, 2024 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -3.7 | Poosa Q | Oct 4, 2024 |
| -3.4 | Scottsboro BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) | Oct 10, 2025 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 100% | 62.4% | 62.4% |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 70% | 89.7% | 89.7% |
| 2024 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50% | top 60% | 93.2% | 92.3% |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 22% | 97.1% | 95.9% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2026 | Dr. George Smith BBQ Brawl (COMPETITOR SERIES) unrated Murfreesboro, TN | 23 / 23 (337.1204) | 11 (167.4288) | 11 (169.6916) | — | — |
| Oct 10, 2025 | Scottsboro BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Scottsboro, AL | 21 / 30 (322.7772) | 26 (159.9544) | 17 (162.8228) | — | — |
| Oct 4, 2024 | Poosa Q 🏅 Montgomery, AL | 41 / 59 (329.1088) | 47 (161.1316) | 35 (167.9772) | — | — |
| Apr 26, 2024 | Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Florence, AL | 20 / 40 (335.3716) | 30 (161.6572) | 8 (173.7144) | — | — |
| Oct 5, 2023 | Poosa Q 🏅 Montgomery, AL | 6 / 73 (349.7144) | 9 (174.2744) | 3 (175.4400) | — | — |
| Apr 28, 2023 | Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Florence, AL | 13 / 36 (511.3944) | 13 (170.8228) | 7 (173.1660) | 21 (167.4056) | — |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.