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.
Hard Wood 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 128 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.
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Hard Wood has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head6 contests to 2: their number has had years to settle where Hard Wood's is still finding its level.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 9 years after Hard Wood did, first appearing in 2023.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with Hard Wood on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-headA longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 2.
⚔ Head-to-headA longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 2.
⚔ Head-to-head| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 162.2284 | 155.4172 | 158.82 | top 66% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 168.5372 | 159.3944 | 163.97 | top 44% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 163.3712 | 145.1428 | 154.26 | top 77% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.2744 | 136.5032 | 151.39 | top 72% |
“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.
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 50% | 91.7% | 91.7% |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 82% | 82.8% | 82.8% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-06-15 | *Knights Of Columbus BBQ Smoke Off 4 Life Kansas City, KS | 16 / 32 (660.4112) | 22 (162.2284) | 9 (168.5372) | 19 (163.3712) | 17 (166.2744) |
| 2014-06-06 | Smokin n a Rollin St. Joseph, MO | 18 / 22 (596.4576) | 14 (155.4172) | 13 (159.3944) | 21 (145.1428) | 20 (136.5032) |