A tough matchup
3–0
behind in the head-to-head
Organizer Portal ahead in 100% of their meetings
Organizer Portal has come out ahead in 3 of their 3 shared contests.
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2018 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 11th of 30 at the Foley BBQ & Blues Cook-Off (BACKYARD ONLY) (2026). They finished #244 in the 2026 Backyard Series Team of the Year standings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1480
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 41 invitational or side-series contest not counted
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Aug 10, 2018
latest Mar 13, 2026 · 7.6 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
0% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 80%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
20%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±12.62
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 166.36 · weakest Brisket (151.93)
Road miles
1,277
across 5 mapped stops · furthest 426 mi
Schedule strength
75%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1595)
Purse competed for
$58K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 2 state-championship entries
Master avg
645.12 / 720
4 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
333.11 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 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)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Backyard | #244 (125 pts) | #261 (115 pts) | #262 (125 pts) | — | — |
| 2023 ↗ | Master | #1255 (60 pts) | #1319 (60 pts) | #1432 (60 pts) | #1287 (60 pts) | #1296 (60 pts) |
| 2021 ↗ | Master | #830 (153 pts) | #881 (153 pts) | #863 (173 pts) | #874 (148 pts) | #877 (148 pts) |
Overall rank by season
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to GREAT BALLS OF FIRE, each with one reason worth a look.
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE has 4 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 133 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#4,129 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1480
Careers of much the same size, 7 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,143 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1509
Level with GREAT BALLS OF FIRE on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#4,116 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1481
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,147 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1480
They turned up 5 years after GREAT BALLS OF FIRE did, first appearing in 2023.
⚔ Compare careers#4,122 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1480
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,149 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1480
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 8 years before GREAT BALLS OF FIRE'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 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 169.1200 | 161.6684 | 165.59 | top 68% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 171.4172 | 153.0740 | 163.16 | top 71% |
| Pork | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 170.8228 | 159.3600 | 166.36 | top 62% |
| Brisket | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 155.9200 | 142.8000 | 151.93 | top 95% |
“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) | 1 | 0 | top 83% |
| Medium (20–39) | 2 | 0 | top 65% |
| Large (40+) | 2 | 0 | top 94% |
More numbers
Busiest season
2021
2 contests
Contests a season
1.3
across 4 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
AL
2 of 5 contests · 3 states in all
Contests visited
5
a different one every time
Opponents faced
204
finished ahead 33 times, behind 196
Longest layoff
3.3 yrs
Nov 11, 2022 → Mar 13, 2026
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20262 milestones
- First call Foley BBQ & Blues Cook-Off (BACKYARD ONLY)
- Most recent contest Foley BBQ & Blues Cook-Off (BACKYARD ONLY)
20221 milestone
- Career-best overall score659.2800 4th Annual KCBS World Invitational - OPEN
20212 milestones
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score650.6972 Country Roads BBQ Clash Day 1
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)171.4172 Country Roads BBQ Clash Day 1
20182 milestones
- First tracked contest Smokin in McMinnville
- Peak power rating (1490) Smokin in McMinnville
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +7 | Foley BBQ & Blues Cook-Off (BACKYARD ONLY) | Mar 13, 2026 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -9.9 | Smokin in McMinnville | Aug 10, 2018 |
| -8.6 | Smithfield Classic in Nashville | Sep 3, 2021 |
| -8.2 | Country Roads BBQ Clash Day 1 | Jul 16, 2021 |
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 | 100% | top 37% | 92.5% | 92.5% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 90% | 91.6% | 91.6% |
| 2021 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 91% | 90.4% | 90% |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 93% | 86.8% | 86.8% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 13, 2026 | Foley BBQ & Blues Cook-Off (BACKYARD ONLY) Foley, AL | 11 / 30 (333.1084) | 13 (165.7256) | 11 (167.3828) | 8 (169.6912) | — |
| Nov 11, 2022 | 4th Annual KCBS World Invitational - OPEN unrated Gadsden, AL | 82 / 91 (659.2800) | 64 (168.5600) | 75 (163.9772) | 39 (170.8228) | 87 (155.9200) |
| Sep 3, 2021 | Smithfield Classic in Nashville 🏅 Nashville, TN | 49 / 50 (645.5196) | 32 (169.1200) | 50 (153.0740) | 30 (169.6800) | 48 (153.6456) |
| Jul 16, 2021 | Country Roads BBQ Clash Day 1 🏅 Morgantown, WV | 15 / 18 (650.6972) | 15 (161.6684) | 11 (171.4172) | 16 (162.2400) | 16 (155.3716) |
| Aug 10, 2018 | Smokin in McMinnville McMinnville, TN | 26 / 28 (624.9832) | 22 (162.8572) | 21 (159.9660) | 25 (159.3600) | 28 (142.8000) |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.