Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
95.7% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 689.1088 at Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue (Competitor's Series) (JUDGES BY INVITATION ONLY) — 95.7% of a perfect 720.
2018 was the year it came together: 3 contests, 1 Grand Championship and 0 category wins, at an average finish in the top 41%.
MUTTLEY CREW BBQ ahead in 80% of their meetings
MUTTLEY CREW BBQ has come out ahead in 4 of their 5 shared contests.
Brisket is where the weekend gets away from them — it averages 6.78 points below their pork ribs, and turns into a call 14% of the time against 29%.
Off the trail for 5.9 years, then back at Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue (Competitor's Series) (JUDGES BY INVITATION ONLY) (2024-10-11).
Contest to contest, they've covered roughly 38,060 miles across 7 mapped stops — the longest single trip being 9,942 miles to Yak Ales Melbourne Barbecue Festival.
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.
114 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Big Smoke BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-headA longer road to the same neighbourhood — 12 contests to 7.
⚔ Head-to-head13 contests and no Grand Championship yet — a rating made of 23% top-10 finishes rather than wins.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with Big Smoke BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 7 years after Big Smoke BBQ did, first appearing in 2022.
⚔ Head-to-headTheir last contest in the data was back in 2020, 4 years before Big Smoke BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MUTTLEY CREW BBQ | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 173.1316 | 148.5144 | 163.41 | top 55% |
| Pork Ribs | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 177.7028 | 149.7032 | 165.70 | top 39% |
| Pork | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 170.8456 | 157.1084 | 164.39 | top 54% |
| Brisket | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 173.7256 | 139.8856 | 158.91 | top 55% |
“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.
| Where | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| KS | 2 | 0 | top 59% |
| NC | 2 | 0 | top 88% |
| TN | 1 | 0 | top 20% |
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 1 | top 5% |
| Large (40+) | 6 | 0 | top 59% |
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39th American Royal World Series of Barbecue (OPEN) | 2 | 134 | 0 | top 59% | 2018-09-15 |
| Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally and BBQ Classic | 2 | 55 | 0 | top 88% | 2016-09-16 |
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +16.9 | Heat Beads BBQ Turf Wars | 2018-11-05 |
| +10.7 | 39th American Royal World Series of Barbecue (OPEN) | 2018-09-15 |
| +4.2 | Yak Ales Melbourne Barbecue Festival | 2017-02-04 |
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -11.7 | Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally and BBQ Classic | 2015-09-18 |
| -6.7 | Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally and BBQ Classic | 2016-09-16 |
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 20% | 95.7% | 95.7% |
| 2018 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 67% | top 41% | 95.6% | 93.4% |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 42% | 88% | 88% |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 81% | 86.2% | 86.2% |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 95% | 84.2% | 84.2% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-11 | Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue (Competitor's Series) (JUDGES BY INVITATION ONLY) unrated Lynchburg, TN | 17 / 87 (689.1088) | 21 (173.1316) | 22 (174.2744) | 43 (169.1200) | 25 (172.5828) |
| 2018-11-05 | Heat Beads BBQ Turf Wars Cranbourne Victoria, 3977 | 1 / 21 (687.9656) | 2 (172.5600) | 4 (170.8344) | 5 (170.8456) | 4 (173.7256) |
| 2018-09-15 | 39th American Royal World Series of Barbecue (OPEN) Kansas City, KS | 134 / 467 (674.7424) | 269 (164.5484) | 56 (173.7144) | 189 (167.3712) | 130 (169.1084) |
| 2018-09-14 | 39th American Royal World Series of Barbecue (INVITATIONAL) unrated Kansas City, KS | 148 / 164 (654.6628) | 116 (168.5372) | 9 (177.7028) | 109 (168.5372) | 163 (139.8856) |
| 2017-02-04 | Yak Ales Melbourne Barbecue Festival Melbourne, 8008 | 18 / 43 (633.7372) | 15 (162.8800) | 30 (151.4056) | 24 (157.1772) | 14 (162.2744) |
| 2016-09-16 | Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally and BBQ Classic Salisbury, NC | 55 / 68 (620.4232) | 65 (148.5144) | 35 (162.2516) | 52 (157.1084) | 56 (152.5488) |
| 2015-09-18 | Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally and BBQ Classic Salisbury, NC | 56 / 59 (606.2064) | 55 (153.6688) | 54 (149.7032) | 40 (160.5600) | 58 (142.2744) |