High-water mark
342.8456
career-best overall
95.2% of a perfect 360
Their best day on record: 342.8456 at Last Chance Points Dance (BACKYARD) — 95.2% of a perfect 360.
- Backyard
- Oct 25, 2025
Backyard Grilling and Smoking
Backyard Grilling and Smoking is a competition barbecue team with 8 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2021 and 2025. Their best overall finish is 13th of 16 at the Last Chance Points Dance (BACKYARD) (2025). They finished #258 in the 2025 Backyard Series Team of the Year standings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1481
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 4
Contests
8
in the data
First seen
Apr 9, 2021
latest Oct 25, 2025 · 4.5 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podium
Overall top-10s
0
0% of 8 contests
Avg finish
top 80%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
25%
contests with a top-10 call
Best single call
176
Consistency
±65.98
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 166.83 · weakest Chicken (137.69)
Road miles
104
across 8 mapped stops
Schedule strength
69%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1587)
Purse competed for
$14K
listed at 7 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 1 state-championship entry
Backyard avg
297.38 / 360
4 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
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 Backyard Grilling and Smoking, each with one reason worth a look.
Backyard Grilling and Smoking 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.
#4,112 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1481
Fewer contests behind them than Backyard Grilling and Smoking has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#4,095 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1501
Level with Backyard Grilling and Smoking on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#4,096 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1481
They were already cooking in 2013, 8 years before Backyard Grilling and Smoking's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#4,103 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1481
Fewer contests behind them than Backyard Grilling and Smoking has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#4,090 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1502
Fewer contests behind them than Backyard Grilling and Smoking has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#4,085 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1501
Fewer contests behind them than Backyard Grilling and Smoking has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 173.7256 | 20 | 137.69 | top 81% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 171.9772 | 163.3828 | 166.83 | top 68% |
| Pork | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 176 | 152.4568 | 164.23 | top 58% |
“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 81% |
| Medium (20–39) | 3 | 0 | top 79% |
More numbers
Busiest season
2025
6 contests
Contests a season
2.7
across 3 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
AL
8 of 8 contests
Contests visited
4
a different one every time
Opponents faced
123
finished ahead 43 times, behind 108
Longest layoff
3.1 yrs
Apr 9, 2021 → May 3, 2024
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20254 milestones
- First call The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-off Qualifier "Lakeside Pork Fest" (ONE MEAT PORK)
- Career-best single call (Pork)176 The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-off Qualifier "Lakeside Pork Fest" (ONE MEAT PORK)
- Career-best overall score342.8456 Last Chance Points Dance (BACKYARD)
- Most recent contest Last Chance Points Dance (BACKYARD)
20213 milestones
- First tracked contest Smoke on the Falls
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score330.1944 Smoke on the Falls
- Peak power rating (1498) Smoke on the Falls
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -11.7 | Smoke on the Water Guntersville (BACKYARD ONLY) | Sep 12, 2025 |
| -3.3 | Last Chance Points Dance (BACKYARD) | Oct 25, 2025 |
| -2.2 | O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 1 | May 3, 2024 |
| -1.8 | Smoke on the Falls | Apr 9, 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33% | top 91% | 95.2% | 73.1% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 67% | 92.5% | 92.5% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 71% | 91.7% | 91.7% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 2025 | Last Chance Points Dance (BACKYARD) Cleveland, AL | 13 / 16 (342.8456) | 12 (173.7256) | 10 (169.1200) | — | — |
| Oct 24, 2025 | The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-Off (ONE MEAT CHICKEN) Cleveland, AL | — | 24 (161.0740) | — | — | — |
| Oct 24, 2025 | The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-Off (ONE MEAT PORK) Cleveland, AL | — | — | — | 24 (152.4568) | — |
| Oct 24, 2025 | The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-Off (ONE MEAT RIBS) Cleveland, AL | — | — | 13 (171.9772) | — | — |
| Sep 12, 2025 | Smoke on the Water Guntersville (BACKYARD ONLY) Guntersville, AL | 28 / 28 (183.3828) | 28 (20) | 26 (163.3828) | — | — |
| Sep 12, 2025 | The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-off Qualifier "Lakeside Pork Fest" (ONE MEAT PORK) Guntersville, AL | — | — | — | 2 (176) | — |
| May 3, 2024 | O'So Good BBQ Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Day 1 Oneonta, AL | 18 / 27 (333.1088) | 14 (168.5488) | 20 (164.5600) | — | — |
| Apr 9, 2021 | Smoke on the Falls 🏅 Gadsden, AL | 27 / 38 (330.1944) | 34 (165.0972) | 25 (165.0972) | — | — |