High-water mark
669.6232
career-best overall
93.0% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 669.6232 at Smoky Hayes BBQ Competition & Cook-Off — 93.0% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Jul 7, 2023
Big J's BBQ
Big J's BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 8 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2015 and 2025. Their best overall finish is 3rd of 6 at the Smoky Hayes BBQ Competition & Cook-Off (2023). They are ranked #4035 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1483
peak 1483 · rated over 5 contests
Contests
8
in the data
First seen
Jan 30, 2015
latest Oct 3, 2025 · 10.7 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
3 podiums
Overall top-10s
2
25% of 8 contests
Avg finish
top 68%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
50%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±20.68
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 161.42 · weakest Chicken (157.32)
Road miles
10,064
across 8 mapped stops · furthest 3,760 mi
Schedule strength
38%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1550)
Purse competed for
$47K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 4 state-championship entries
Master avg
637.52 / 720
4 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
295.37 / 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 ↗ | Master | #724 (206 pts) | #639 (287 pts) | #642 (328 pts) | #747 (206 pts) | #772 (206 pts) |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Big J's BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
137 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#4,051 of the rated field
- Contests
- 11
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 18%
- Peak
- 1504
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to Big J's BBQ)
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Big J's BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#4,039 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1482
Fewer contests behind them than Big J's BBQ has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#4,042 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 17%
- Peak
- 1482
They turned up 6 years after Big J's BBQ did, first appearing in 2021.
⚔ Compare careers#4,056 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1482
Level with Big J's BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#4,026 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1503
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 6 years before Big J's BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#4,023 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1483
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 7 years before Big J's BBQ'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 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 169.7028 | 146.8572 | 157.32 | top 77% |
| Pork Ribs | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 173.1316 | 148.5144 | 160.07 | top 66% |
| Pork | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 165.0972 | 156.5600 | 161.42 | top 73% |
| Brisket | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 169.1316 | 142.1944 | 158.56 | top 63% |
“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 50% |
| Large (40+) | 4 | 0 | top 73% |
More numbers
Busiest season
2023
3 contests
Contests a season
1.6
across 5 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
AK
3 of 8 contests · 6 states in all
Contests visited
5
a different one every time
Opponents faced
213
finished ahead 64 times, behind 167
Longest layoff
4.3 yrs
Jan 30, 2015 → May 31, 2019
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20251 milestone
- Most recent contest ND BBQ Championship
20234 milestones
- First overall podium Smoky Hayes BBQ Competition & Cook-Off
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score669.6232 Smoky Hayes BBQ Competition & Cook-Off
- Career-best overall score669.6232 Smoky Hayes BBQ Competition & Cook-Off
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)173.1316 Smoky Hayes BBQ Competition & Cook-Off
20193 milestones
- First call Horse Town Brew N Que Festival (JUDGES FULL)
- First overall top-10 Horse Town Brew N Que Festival (JUDGES FULL)
- Peak power rating (1498) Horse Town Brew N Que Festival (JUDGES FULL)
20151 milestone
- First tracked contest Lakeland Pig Festival
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +8.4 | Horse Town Brew N Que Festival (JUDGES FULL) | May 31, 2019 |
| +3.9 | Smoky Hayes BBQ Competition & Cook-Off | Jul 7, 2023 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -10.7 | ND BBQ Championship | Oct 3, 2025 |
| -10.1 | Lakeland Pig Festival | Jan 30, 2015 |
| -9 | Minnesota in May (Masters) | May 13, 2022 |
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 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 96% | 85.5% | 85.5% |
| 2023 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 50% | 93% | 93% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 88% | 89% | 89% |
| 2019 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50% | top 20% | 82% | 82% |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 87% | 86.6% | 86.6% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2025 | ND BBQ Championship 🏅 Fargo, ND | 44 / 46 (615.8744) | 46 (152.5600) | 30 (164.5600) | 41 (156.5600) | 45 (142.1944) |
| Jul 7, 2023 | Smoky Hayes BBQ Competition & Cook-Off Delta Junction, AK | 3 / 6 (669.6232) | 5 (162.2628) | 3 (173.1316) | 3 (165.0972) | 3 (169.1316) |
| Apr 29, 2023 | Break Up Shake Up BBQ Contest (ONE MEAT CHICKEN) Palmer, AK | — | 8 (169.7028) | — | — | — |
| Apr 29, 2023 | Break Up Shake Up BBQ Contest (ONE MEAT RIBS) Palmer, AK | — | — | 9 (169.1084) | — | — |
| May 13, 2022 | Minnesota in May (Masters) 🏅 Cambridge, MN | 52 / 59 (641.1316) | 54 (157.6912) | 58 (152.0116) | 50 (162.8344) | 18 (168.5944) |
| Aug 2, 2019 | Pigs & Pedals 🏅 Asheboro, NC | — | — | — | — | — |
| May 31, 2019 | Horse Town Brew N Que Festival (JUDGES FULL) 🏅 Norco, CA | 10 / 49 (295.3716) | 10 (146.8572) | 12 (148.5144) | — | — |
| Jan 30, 2015 | Lakeland Pig Festival Lakeland, FL | 54 / 62 (623.4400) | 57 (154.8228) | 53 (153.1200) | 42 (161.1772) | 45 (154.3200) |