A tough matchup
3–0
behind in the head-to-head
Smoke This Drink That BBQ ahead in 100% of their meetings
Smoke This Drink That BBQ has come out ahead in 3 of their 3 shared contests.
BBQ Boys
BBQ Boys is a competition barbecue team with 9 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2014 and 2025. Their best overall finish is 5th of 10 at the American Royal World Series of Barbecue Steak Cook-Off (2024). They are ranked #4138 of 6,476 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1480
peak 1509 · rated over 6 contests
Contests
9
in the data
First seen
Aug 8, 2014
latest Mar 14, 2025 · 10.6 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
11% of 9 contests
Avg finish
top 67%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
11%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±10.81
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 168.38 · weakest Brisket (146.26)
Road miles
3,563
across 9 mapped stops · furthest 1,474 mi
Schedule strength
40%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1553)
Purse competed for
$17K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 1 state-championship entry
Master avg
639.17 / 720
2 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
295.49 / 360
3 Backyard contests · 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.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to BBQ Boys, each with one reason worth a look.
136 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#4,136 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1480
Fewer contests behind them than BBQ Boys has cooked, 6 to 9, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#4,130 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1480
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 7 years before BBQ Boys's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#4,148 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 14%
- Peak
- 1514
They've been 1514 at their best, 35 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Compare careers#4,152 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 14%
- Peak
- 1480
Level with BBQ Boys on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#4,134 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1515
They've been 1515 at their best, 34 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Compare careers#4,151 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1480
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 6 years before BBQ Boys'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 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 168.6400 | 141.6116 | 155.41 | top 63% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 162.8572 | 141.6456 | 151.73 | top 71% |
| Pork | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169.7256 | 166.8800 | 168.38 | top 28% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 160 | 132.5144 | 146.26 | top 78% |
“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% |
| Medium (20–39) | 2 | 0 | top 97% |
| Large (40+) | 3 | 0 | top 53% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | 2 | 30 | 0 | top 97% | Mar 22, 2024 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2024
2 contests
Contests a season
1.3
across 7 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
MO
4 of 9 contests · 4 states in all
Contests visited
5
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
266
finished ahead 100 times, behind 206
Longest layoff
5.7 yrs
Jul 15, 2017 → Mar 24, 2023
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20251 milestone
- Most recent contest Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship
20241 milestone
- First overall top-10 American Royal World Series of Barbecue Steak Cook-Off
20146 milestones
- First tracked contest Med City BBQ & Musicfest
- First call Med City BBQ & Musicfest
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score661.2228 Med City BBQ & Musicfest
- Career-best overall score661.2228 Med City BBQ & Musicfest
- Career-best single call (Pork)169.7256 Med City BBQ & Musicfest
- Peak power rating (1509) Med City BBQ & Musicfest
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +8.9 | Med City BBQ & Musicfest | Aug 8, 2014 |
| +5.4 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Steak Cook-Off | Mar 22, 2024 |
| +1.8 | Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship | Mar 14, 2025 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -14 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | Mar 24, 2023 |
| -12.3 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | Mar 22, 2024 |
| -9.7 | Med City BBQ & Musicfest | Aug 7, 2015 |
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 45% | 86% | 86% |
| 2024 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | top 73% | 97.5% | 88.1% |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 97% | 81.6% | 81.6% |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 87% | 85.7% | 85.7% |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 28% | 91.8% | 91.8% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 14, 2025 | Smoke on the Shores BBQ Championship 🏅 Lebanon, TN | 45 / 100 (309.5544) | 47 (150.1944) | 41 (159.3600) | 27 (168.5372) | — |
| Mar 22, 2024 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest Kansas City, MO | 30 / 31 (283.2572) | 30 (141.6116) | 30 (141.6456) | — | — |
| Mar 22, 2024 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Steak Cook-Off Kansas City, MO | 5 / 10 (175.4172) | — | — | — | — |
| Mar 24, 2023 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest Kansas City, MO | 36 / 37 (293.6688) | 34 (149.6800) | 35 (143.9888) | — | — |
| Mar 24, 2023 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Steak Cook-Off Kansas City, MO | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jul 15, 2017 | 2017 Clayton BBQ Cook-off a KCBS (Competitor Series) event Sponsored by the CBCA Clayton, CA | — | — | — | — | — |
| Aug 5, 2016 | 2016 Clayton Rib Cook-off (COMPETITOR SERIES ) Clayton, CA | — | — | — | — | — |
| Aug 7, 2015 | Med City BBQ & Musicfest Rochester, MN | 41 / 47 (617.1204) | 22 (166.9144) | 42 (150.8116) | 18 (166.8800) | 46 (132.5144) |
| Aug 8, 2014 | Med City BBQ & Musicfest Rochester, MN | 11 / 40 (661.2228) | 14 (168.6400) | 14 (162.8572) | 7 (169.7256) | 23 (160) |