Their season
2025
their best year
2025 was the year it came together: 3 contests, 0 Grand Championships and 1 category win, at an average finish in the top 38%.
- 3 contests
- 2 overall top-10s
- 1 category win
- average top 38%
Brown Dog BBQ
Brown Dog BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 6 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2016 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 4th of 24 at the Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown (2025). They are ranked #3713 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1489
peak 1503 · rated over 6 contests
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
Apr 15, 2016
latest Apr 3, 2026 · 10 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
1
2 podiums
Overall top-10s
2
33% of 6 contests
Best top-10 run
2
straight overall top-10s
Avg finish
top 62%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
33%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±8.46
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 165.81 · weakest Brisket (148.56)
Road miles
1,189
across 6 mapped stops · furthest 565 mi
Schedule strength
58%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1573)
Purse competed for
$36K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 3 state-championship entries
Master avg
593.14 / 720
1 Master contest · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
328.98 / 360
5 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360), 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 Brown Dog BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
149 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#3,685 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1490
1–0 in 1 shared contest (100% to Brown Dog BBQ)
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Brown Dog BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,689 of the rated field
- Contests
- 10
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1489
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to Brown Dog BBQ)
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 8 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,721 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1500
Careers of much the same size, 6 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#3,726 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1489
They turned up 6 years after Brown Dog BBQ did, first appearing in 2022.
⚔ Compare careers#3,723 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1501
Level with Brown Dog BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#3,722 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1489
Careers of much the same size, 6 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 167.9888 | 133.6916 | 155.59 | top 69% |
| Pork Ribs | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 174.2856 | 149.7716 | 165.81 | top 48% |
| Pork | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 161.1200 | 161.1200 | 161.12 | top 64% |
| Brisket | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 148.5600 | 148.5600 | 148.56 | top 82% |
“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) | 5 | 0 | top 61% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 69% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | 2 | 23 | 0 | top 80% | Mar 20, 2026 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2025
3 contests
Contests a season
2
across 3 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
IA
2 of 6 contests · 4 states in all
Contests visited
5
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
174
finished ahead 76 times, behind 152
Longest layoff
8.9 yrs
Apr 15, 2016 → Mar 21, 2025
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20261 milestone
- Most recent contest Iowa State BBQ Championship
20256 milestones
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score330.7540 American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest
- First call Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown
- First overall top-10 Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)174.2856 Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown
- First category win (Pork Ribs) Tri-City BBQ Fest
- Peak power rating (1503) Tri-City BBQ Fest
20162 milestones
- First tracked contest Sam's Club National BBQ Tour
- Career-best overall score593.1432 Sam's Club National BBQ Tour
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +13.4 | Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown | Jul 11, 2025 |
| +6.6 | Tri-City BBQ Fest | Sep 19, 2025 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -13 | Sam's Club National BBQ Tour | Apr 15, 2016 |
| -11 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | Mar 20, 2026 |
| -3.7 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | Mar 21, 2025 |
| -3.1 | Iowa State BBQ Championship | Apr 3, 2026 |
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 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 80% | 91.9% | 91% |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 67% | top 38% | 95.1% | 91.6% |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 100% | 82.4% | 82.4% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 2026 | Iowa State BBQ Championship 🏅 Altoona, IA | 29 / 42 (330.8000) | 32 (163.9772) | 24 (166.8228) | — | — |
| Mar 20, 2026 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest Kansas City, MO | 30 / 33 (324.5600) | 31 (162.2972) | 26 (162.2628) | — | — |
| Sep 19, 2025 | Tri-City BBQ Fest 🏅 Denison, IA | 7 / 26 (316.5256) | 8 (145.6456) | 1 (170.8800) | — | — |
| Jul 11, 2025 | Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown 🏅 Papillion, NE | 4 / 24 (342.2744) | 5 (167.9888) | 3 (174.2856) | — | — |
| Mar 21, 2025 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest Kansas City, MO | 23 / 33 (330.7540) | 30 (159.9428) | 15 (170.8112) | — | — |
| Apr 15, 2016 | Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Fort Collins, CO | 28 / 28 (593.1432) | 28 (133.6916) | 25 (149.7716) | 18 (161.1200) | 23 (148.5600) |