LICENSE TO GRILL

At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)

Power ranking

#6028

of 6,413 rated · rankings

Rating

1431

peak 1431 · rated over 16 contests ⓘ

Contests

in the data

First seen

2018-06-22

latest 2025-08-01

Best ToY finish

#832

Master 2021

Grand champs

0 reserve

Category wins

0 podiums

Overall top-10s

of 16 contests

Avg finish

top 76%

overall standings

Best overall

661.2116 / 720

Master · All American BBQ Throwdown

Perfect 180s

Current form

650.67 ▲

last 5 Master vs avg 636.75 (+13.92)

Walk rate

13%

contests with a top-10 call

Best single call

169.7256

Chicken · Westland Area Jaycees All American BBQ Throwdown

Consistency

±17.03

std dev of Master overall scores (lower = steadier)

Strongest meat

Chicken

avg 163.20 · weakest Brisket (157.20)

Road miles

1,511

mi across 16 mapped stops · furthest 171 mi

Schedule strength

56%

of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1571)

Purse competed for

$82K

listed at 11 contests — purses, not winnings

State championships

0 🏅

GCs in 12 state-championship entries

Master avg

636.75 / 720

16 Master contests · 0 GCs

⚔ Compare with another team

Storylines (9 found in this team's record)

Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.

The one to beat

2× one call ahead of them

S & G BBQ has finished one call ahead of LICENSE TO GRILL 2 times — their closest competition in the data.

A tough matchup

16–0 behind in the head-to-head

iBQ'n ahead in 100% of their meetings

iBQ'n has come out ahead in 16 of their 16 shared contests.

The weak link

−6.0 points behind their best meat

Brisket is where the weekend gets away from them — it averages 6.00 points below their chicken, and turns into a call 0% of the time against 6%.

Brisket avg 157.20
Chicken avg 163.20
0 calls in 16 entries

A strong matchup

4–0 ahead in the head-to-head

Ahead in 100% of their meetings

They've finished ahead of HASHTAG BBQ in 4 of their 4 shared contests.

Chicken nemesis

14 of 16 shared chicken entries lost

iBQ'n ahead 88% of the time

Even in their strongest meat, iBQ'n has out-cooked them in 14 of 16 shared chicken entries.

Looking over their shoulder

2× one call behind them

Heritage Q has landed one call behind them 2 times.

A September team

Top 61% average finish in September

Something about September: average finish in the top 61% across 3 contests, versus top 76% the rest of the year.

3 September contests
top 76% the rest of the year

The metronome

±2.36% swing around their own average

Their overall lands within ±2.36% of a perfect score of their own average — whatever the field, you know roughly what they'll turn in.

averages 88.4% of a perfect score
16 contests

A standing appointment

6 years running at one contest

They've cooked All American BBQ Throwdown every year from 2020 to 2025 — the contest they never miss.

6 visits in all
best finish 25th

Teams like this (closest power rating)

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.

42 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.

Meatheads

#6030 of the rated field

1430 ▼ 0 power rating

Contests: 17
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 6%
Peak: 1430

No shared contest yet.

This is the highest they've ever been rated, 17 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.

rated over 17 contests
last seen 2025-09-27

⚔ Head-to-head

REVIN IT UP BBQ

#6029 of the rated field

1431 ▼ 0 power rating

Contests: 17
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 0%
Peak: 1431

No shared contest yet.

Their last contest in the data was back in 2020, 5 years before LICENSE TO GRILL's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.

rated over 17 contests

⚔ Head-to-head

2 GREEKS BBQ

#6022 of the rated field

1431 ▲ 0 power rating

Contests: 15
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 0%
Peak: 1431

No shared contest yet.

Careers of much the same size, 15 contests to 16, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.

rated over 15 contests
last seen 2025-09-13

⚔ Head-to-head

Serial Soul Smokers

#6031 of the rated field

1430 ▼ 0 power rating

Contests: 15
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 0%
Peak: 1430

No shared contest yet.

15 contests and no Grand Championship yet.

rated over 15 contests
last seen 2024-09-07

⚔ Head-to-head

4 K'S BBQ

#6024 of the rated field

1431 ▼ 0 power rating

Contests: 18
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 6%
Peak: 1431

No shared contest yet.

They were already cooking in 2013, 5 years before LICENSE TO GRILL's first contest.

rated over 18 contests
last seen 2017-06-16

⚔ Head-to-head

Slow Cookin' Cats

#6023 of the rated field

1431 ▲ 0 power rating

Contests: 14
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 0%
Peak: 1431

No shared contest yet.

Level with LICENSE TO GRILL on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.

rated over 14 contests
last seen 2026-06-26

⚔ Head-to-head

Familiar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)

Opponent	Meetings	Ahead	Behind	Win rate
iBQ'n	16	0	16	0%	⚔ compare
KEVLAR BBQ	15	0	15	0%	⚔ compare
THE REAL SMOKIN ACES	14	0	14	0%	⚔ compare
BAD HABIT BBQ	13	0	13	0%	⚔ compare
Q-JITSU	12	1	11	8%	⚔ compare
Mac Attack BBQ	12	1	11	8%	⚔ compare
FIREHOUSE SMOKE	12	1	11	8%	⚔ compare
Heritage Q	11	4	7	36%	⚔ compare
BO B Q BBQ	11	0	11	0%	⚔ compare
PapaDads BBQ	11	0	11	0%	⚔ compare
BAD WOLF BBQ	10	0	10	0%	⚔ compare
AWW HELL	10	0	10	0%	⚔ compare
DETROIT PIGSKIN BARBEQUE	9	3	6	33%	⚔ compare
S & G BBQ	9	2	7	22%	⚔ compare
B&R SMOKE	9	0	9	0%	⚔ compare

By meat

Category	Entries	Calls	Best	Worst	Average	Avg finish
Chicken	16	1	169.7256	153.0628	163.20	top 62%
Pork Ribs	16	0	169.7028	135.4172	157.55	top 72%
Pork	16	1	167.4172	149.0628	158.80	top 70%
Brisket	16	0	165.7372	134.8000	157.20	top 68%

“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 state / province

Where	Contests	GCs	Avg finish
MI	14	0	top 75%
IN	2	0	top 86%

By contest size

Field	Contests	GCs	Avg finish
Medium (20–39)	8	0	top 76%
Large (40+)	8	0	top 76%

Contest-by-contest record (recurring contests they've cooked twice or more)

Contest	Visits	Best	GCs	Avg finish	Last visit
All American BBQ Throwdown	6	25	0	top 78%	2025-08-01

The story so far (16 numbers that describe this team)

On the trail 7.1 yrs 2018-06-22 → 2025-08-01

Busiest season 2019 5 contests

Contests a season 2 across 8 seasons in the data

Cooks most in MI 14 of 16 contests · 2 states/provinces in all

Contests visited 11 1 of them cooked more than once

Most-entered meat Chicken 16 entries · 0 wins · 1 calls

Strongest meat Chicken averages 163.20 · weakest Brisket (157.20)

Walk rate 13% a top-10 call in 2 of 16 contests

Overall top-10 rate 0% 0 of 16 contests

Master average 636.75 out of 720 · 16 contests · 0 GCs

Opponents faced 239 144–479 across every shared overall standing

Road miles 1,511 16 mapped stops · furthest 171 mi

Schedule strength 1571 average field rating faced — tougher than 56% of rated contests

Purse competed for $81,960 listed at 11 contests — purses, not winnings

State championships 0 from 12 state-championship entries

Power rating 1431 peak 1431 · #6028 of 6,413 rated

Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)

2018
Jun 22 First tracked contest 10th Annual Auburn Hills Barbecue Cook-Off
Jun 22 Peak power rating (1491) 10th Annual Auburn Hills Barbecue Cook-Off
Oct 12 First call *Smoke & Ale Fall Festival
2019
Aug 2 Career-best single call (Chicken)169.7256 Westland Area Jaycees All American BBQ Throwdown
Sep 13 First overall past 90% of a perfect score654.8344 Silver Lake Sand Dunes Apple & BBQ Festival
2020
Aug 7 10th tracked contest All American BBQ Throwdown
2024
Aug 2 Career-best overall score661.2116 All American BBQ Throwdown
2025
Aug 1 Most recent contest All American BBQ Throwdown

Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)

📈 Biggest rating jumps

Swing	Contest	Date
+2	*Silver Lake Apple BBQ Festival	2018-09-14
+0.3	All American BBQ Throwdown	2024-08-02
+0.2	All American BBQ Throwdown	2022-08-05

📉 Toughest weekends

Swing	Contest	Date
-9.3	10th Annual Auburn Hills Barbecue Cook-Off	2018-06-22
-8.9	Rockin BBQ	2019-05-10
-7.5	Westland Area Jaycee's All American BBQ Throwdown	2018-08-03
-6.9	All American BBQ Throwdown	2025-08-01
-6.3	All American BBQ Throwdown	2020-08-07

Category scores over time

Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)

Where they finish (overall)

Best vs average (by meat)

How entries end (by meat)

Team of the Year rank by season

Season by season

Season	Contests	Walk rate	Avg finish	Best overall (% of perfect)	Avg overall (% of perfect)
2025	1	0%	top 93%	88.1%	88.1%
2024	1	0%	top 70%	91.8%	91.8%
2023	1	0%	top 75%	91.2%	91.2%
2022	1	0%	top 68%	91.2%	91.2%
2021	2	0%	top 71%	89.6%	89.3%
2020	1	0%	top 86%	87.2%	87.2%
2019	5	20%	top 78%	90.9%	88.8%
2018	4	25%	top 74%	87.3%	85.7%

Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)

Date	Event	Overall	Chicken	Ribs	Pork	Brisket
2025-08-01	All American BBQ Throwdown 🏅 Westland, MI	40 / 43 (634.1028)	41 (153.0628)	22 (169.1084)	40 (156.5372)	40 (155.3944)
2024-08-02	All American BBQ Throwdown 🏅 Westland, MI	28 / 40 (661.2116)	20 (169.1428)	24 (165.1888)	34 (161.1428)	19 (165.7372)
2023-08-04	All American BBQ Throwdown 🏅 Westland, MI	33 / 44 (656.4800)	22 (169.1200)	17 (169.6916)	37 (157.6800)	33 (159.9884)
2022-08-05	All American BBQ Throwdown 🏅 Westland, MI	34 / 50 (656.4912)	27 (167.3712)	36 (161.7144)	32 (164.0000)	31 (163.4056)
2021-09-10	Silver Lake Sand Dunes BBQ Competition 🏅 Mears, MI	16 / 25 (645.0400)	19 (162.2972)	18 (162.2628)	18 (158.2400)	16 (162.2400)
2021-08-06	All American BBQ Throwdown 🏅 Westland, MI	25 / 32 (641.0284)	27 (158.8456)	28 (153.6800)	12 (166.8344)	21 (161.6684)
2020-08-07	All American BBQ Throwdown 🏅 Westland, MI	36 / 42 (627.9428)	39 (156.5256)	34 (158.8572)	23 (164.5828)	40 (147.9772)
2019-09-13	Silver Lake Sand Dunes Apple & BBQ Festival 🏅 Mears, MI	23 / 35 (654.8344)	19 (167.4400)	14 (169.7028)	32 (153.1200)	16 (164.5716)
2019-08-02	Westland Area Jaycees All American BBQ Throwdown 🏅 Westland, MI	29 / 40 (645.0740)	11 (169.7256)	25 (163.9428)	28 (161.1312)	35 (150.2744)
2019-06-21	11th Annual Auburn Hills Barbecue Cook-Off 🏅 Auburn Hills, MI	23 / 30 (636.4572)	15 (165.6800)	18 (164.5600)	21 (157.6800)	27 (148.5372)
2019-05-17	Sunset Hill Kansas City Barbecue Competition 🏅 Valparaiso, IN	16 / 20 (639.8628)	12 (161.6572)	19 (154.8344)	7 (167.4172)	18 (155.9540)
2019-05-10	Rockin BBQ 🏅 Warsaw, IN	39 / 42 (622.1140)	38 (155.9884)	38 (151.9200)	41 (149.0628)	17 (165.1428)
2018-10-12	*Smoke & Ale Fall Festival Chelsea, MI	28 / 38 (623.9660)	9 (169.1544)	38 (137.6688)	29 (153.0972)	14 (164.0456)
2018-09-14	*Silver Lake Apple BBQ Festival Mears, MI	25 / 48 (628.5604)	16 (166.2972)	29 (146.8116)	22 (160.5828)	27 (154.8688)
2018-08-03	Westland Area Jaycee's All American BBQ Throwdown Westland, MI	32 / 39 (623.4628)	31 (157.7028)	34 (155.4400)	34 (149.7600)	20 (160.5600)
2018-06-22	10th Annual Auburn Hills Barbecue Cook-Off Auburn Hills, MI	27 / 30 (591.3372)	21 (161.1200)	30 (135.4172)	18 (160.0000)	28 (134.8000)

Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)

Team of the Year standings (rank per category by season — year links to the full board on kcbs.us)

Year	Series	Overall	Chicken	Ribs	Pork	Brisket
2025 ↗	Master	#1148 (60 pts)	#1221 (60 pts)	#1250 (75 pts)	#1190 (60 pts)	#1190 (60 pts)
2024 ↗	Master	#1182 (60 pts)	#1152 (85 pts)	#1296 (65 pts)	#1231 (60 pts)	#1082 (90 pts)
2023 ↗	Master	#1255 (60 pts)	#1257 (75 pts)	#1276 (100 pts)	#1287 (60 pts)	#1296 (60 pts)
2022 ↗	Master	#1309 (60 pts)	#1341 (60 pts)	#1404 (60 pts)	#1348 (60 pts)	#1333 (60 pts)
2021 ↗	Master	#832 (152 pts)	#916 (137 pts)	#945 (142 pts)	#728 (207 pts)	#823 (172 pts)
2020 ↗	Master	#856 (60 pts)	#896 (60 pts)	#913 (60 pts)	#872 (70 pts)	#883 (60 pts)
2019 ↗	Master	#838 (345 pts)	#688 (495 pts)	#803 (400 pts)	#792 (405 pts)	#799 (400 pts)
2018 ↗	Master	#1331 (175 pts)	#1054 (280 pts)	#1397 (175 pts)	#1238 (210 pts)	#1115 (255 pts)