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.
THIN BLUE LINE 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 139 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 THIN BLUE LINE BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head7 contests to 2: their number has had years to settle where THIN BLUE LINE BBQ's is still finding its level.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 9 years after THIN BLUE LINE BBQ did, first appearing in 2022.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with THIN BLUE LINE BBQ 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 | 159.9772 | 152.5028 | 156.24 | top 77% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 161.1544 | 150.8460 | 156.00 | top 70% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 153.6800 | 147.9544 | 150.82 | top 93% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 146.2400 | 144.5028 | 145.37 | top 93% |
“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.
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 0 | top 93% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 83% |
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 93% | 84.8% | 84.8% |
| 2013 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 83% | 84.2% | 84.2% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-10-06 | *Decatur's Smokin BBQ Festival(JUDGES FULL) Decatur, IL | 28 / 30 (610.7432) | 23 (159.9772) | 28 (150.8460) | 27 (153.6800) | 30 (146.2400) |
| 2013-10-11 | Central Illinois Bragging Rights Arthur, IL | 44 / 53 (606.1144) | 41 (152.5028) | 25 (161.1544) | 51 (147.9544) | 46 (144.5028) |