High-water mark
487.9084
career-best overall
135.5% of a perfect 360
Their best day on record: 487.9084 at Great Americana BBQ Festival — 135.5% of a perfect 360.
- Backyard
- 2021-08-27
HICKORY HOGS BBQ
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1502
peak 1502 · rated over 2 contests ⓘ
Contests
3
in the data
First seen
2021-08-27
latest 2026-03-20
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
of 3 contests
Avg finish
top 51%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
33%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 164.71 · weakest Pork (158.54)
Road miles
38
mi across 3 mapped stops
Purse competed for
$10K
listed at 1 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 2 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
408.19 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Storylines (2 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.
The comeback
4.6 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 4.6 years, then back at Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship (ONE MEAT RIBS) (2026-03-20).
- last seen 2021-08-27
- back 2026-03-20
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.
HICKORY HOGS BBQ has 2 rated contests — 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 103 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.
#3103 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1505
No shared contest yet.
A longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 3.
⚔ Head-to-head#3131 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1511
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2022, 4 years before HICKORY HOGS BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3129 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1502
No shared contest yet.
Level with HICKORY HOGS BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#3123 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2013, 8 years before HICKORY HOGS BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-head#3118 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1502
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 9 years before HICKORY HOGS BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3110 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1503
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 10 years before HICKORY HOGS BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 164.5488 | 160.5484 | 162.55 | top 56% |
| Pork Ribs | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169.6800 | 160.5144 | 164.71 | top 48% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 159.3944 | 157.6800 | 158.54 | top 60% |
| Brisket | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
“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 contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 0 | top 68% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 34% |
The story so far (16 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
4.6 yrs
2021-08-27 → 2026-03-20
Busiest season
2026
2 contests
Contests a season
1.5
across 2 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
TN
3 of 3 contests
Contests visited
2
0 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
3 entries · 0 wins · 1 calls
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
averages 164.71 · weakest Pork (158.54)
Walk rate
33%
a top-10 call in 1 of 3 contests
Overall top-10 rate
0%
0 of 3 contests
Backyard average
408.19
out of 360 · 2 contests · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
216
106–116 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
38
3 mapped stops
Purse competed for
$10,000
listed at 1 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 2 state-championship entries
Longest layoff
4.6 yrs
2021-08-27 → 2026-03-20
Power rating
1502
peak 1502 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2021
- First tracked contest Great Americana BBQ Festival
- First call Great Americana BBQ Festival
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score487.9084 Great Americana BBQ Festival
- Career-best overall score487.9084 Great Americana BBQ Festival
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)169.6800 Great Americana BBQ Festival
- 2026
- Most recent contest Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship
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 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 34% | 91.2% | 91.2% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 68% | 135.5% | 135.5% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-20 | Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship 🏅 Lebanon, TN | 43 / 125 (328.4800) | 44 (164.5488) | 39 (163.9312) | 44 (159.3944) | — |
| 2026-03-20 | Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship (ONE MEAT RIBS) Lebanon, TN | — | — | 77 (160.5144) | — | — |
| 2021-08-27 | Great Americana BBQ Festival 🏅 Franklin, TN | 17 / 25 (487.9084) | 19 (160.5484) | 6 (169.6800) | 21 (157.6800) | — |