A tough matchup
3–0
behind in the head-to-head
Smokin Suckers ahead in 100% of their meetings
Smokin Suckers has come out ahead in 3 of their 3 shared contests.
SILENCE OF THE HAMMS
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1485
peak 1485 · rated over 4 contests ⓘ
Contests
4
in the data
First seen
2022-04-01
latest 2025-07-11
Best ToY finish
#252
Backyard 2025
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
of 4 contests
Avg finish
top 70%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
25%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 165.12 · weakest Pork Ribs (157.97)
Road miles
271
mi across 4 mapped stops · furthest 119 mi
Schedule strength
51%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1566)
Purse competed for
$20K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 3 state-championship entries
Master avg
649.86 / 720
2 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
318.81 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
Master and Backyard overall scores sit on different scales (Master is 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.
Storylines (1 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.
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.
SILENCE OF THE HAMMS has 4 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 151 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.
#3890 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1485
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 4, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#3881 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1504
No shared contest yet.
Level with SILENCE OF THE HAMMS on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#3879 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1506
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2016, 6 years before SILENCE OF THE HAMMS's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-head#3911 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1502
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 4, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#3869 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1486
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 4, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#3902 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1485
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 4, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 173.1544 | 156.4912 | 164.39 | top 61% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 164.5372 | 152.5716 | 157.97 | top 71% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 167.9656 | 162.2744 | 165.12 | top 76% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 163.3828 | 154.2856 | 158.83 | top 80% |
“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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IA | 3 | 0 | top 87% |
| NE | 1 | 0 | top 21% |
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 3 | 0 | top 63% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 93% |
The story so far (18 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
3.3 yrs
2022-04-01 → 2025-07-11
Busiest season
2025
1 contest
Contests a season
1
across 4 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
IA
3 of 4 contests · 2 states/provinces in all
Contests visited
4
0 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Chicken
4 entries · 0 wins · 1 calls
Strongest meat
Pork
averages 165.12 · weakest Pork Ribs (157.97)
Walk rate
25%
a top-10 call in 1 of 4 contests
Overall top-10 rate
25%
1 of 4 contests
Master average
649.86
out of 720 · 2 contests · 0 GCs
Backyard average
318.81
out of 360 · 2 contests · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
111
35–99 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
271
4 mapped stops · furthest 119 mi
Schedule strength
1566
average field rating faced — tougher than 51% of rated contests
Purse competed for
$19,800
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 3 state-championship entries
Longest layoff
1.2 yrs
2023-05-19 → 2024-07-19
Power rating
1485
peak 1485 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2022
- First tracked contest Iowa State BBQ Championship (Backyard)
- Peak power rating (1488) Iowa State BBQ Championship (Backyard)
- 2024
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score659.8396 Shenandoah ShenDig BBQ
- Career-best overall score659.8396 Shenandoah ShenDig BBQ
- 2025
- First call Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown
- First overall top-10 Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown
- Career-best single call (Chicken)173.1544 Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown
- Most recent contest Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +11.7 | Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown | 2025-07-11 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -11.8 | Iowa State BBQ Championship (Backyard) | 2022-04-01 |
| -9 | King of the Corn | 2023-05-19 |
| -5.7 | Shenandoah ShenDig BBQ | 2024-07-19 |
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 | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 21% | 91.3% | 91.3% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 78% | 91.6% | 91.6% |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 93% | 88.9% | 88.9% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 89% | 85.9% | 85.9% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-07-11 | Goose's 1st Annual Pitmaster Showdown 🏅 Papillion, NE | 5 / 24 (328.5604) | 3 (173.1544) | 6 (155.4060) | — | — |
| 2024-07-19 | Shenandoah ShenDig BBQ 🏅 Shenandoah, IA | 28 / 36 (659.8396) | 20 (169.1084) | 33 (159.3828) | 22 (167.9656) | 25 (163.3828) |
| 2023-05-19 | King of the Corn 🏅 Ottumwa, IA | 42 / 45 (639.8856) | 42 (158.7884) | 36 (164.5372) | 41 (162.2744) | 41 (154.2856) |
| 2022-04-01 | Iowa State BBQ Championship (Backyard) Altoona, IA | 24 / 27 (309.0628) | 22 (156.4912) | 24 (152.5716) | — | — |
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 ↗ | Backyard | #252 (157 pts) | #213 (207 pts) | #287 (147 pts) | — | — |
| 2024 ↗ | Master | #1182 (60 pts) | #1152 (85 pts) | #1317 (60 pts) | #1170 (75 pts) | #1204 (60 pts) |
| 2023 ↗ | Master | #1255 (60 pts) | #1319 (60 pts) | #1432 (60 pts) | #1287 (60 pts) | #1296 (60 pts) |