Riding a hot streak
5
straight overall top-10s
Currently on a 5-contest overall top-10 run.
- career best 5
NM/SS
NM/SS is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2020 and 2024. Their best overall finish is 4th of 33 at The Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q (2020). They are ranked #1693 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1552
peak 1552 · rated over 5 contests
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Aug 7, 2020
latest Aug 30, 2024 · 4.1 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
1
2 podiums
Overall top-10s
5
100% of 5 contests
Best top-10 run
5
straight overall top-10s, still running
Avg finish
top 27%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
100%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±3.52
spread of their Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 168.89 · weakest Pork (159.38)
Road miles
65
across 5 mapped stops · furthest 60 mi
Schedule strength
86%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1616)
Purse competed for
$21K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 5 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
334.59 / 360
3 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
Backyard (3-meat) avg
499.91 / 540
2 Backyard (3-meat) contests · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Backyard out of 360, Backyard (3-meat) out of 540), 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)
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to NM/SS, each with one reason worth a look.
58 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#1,699 of the rated field
- Contests
- 14
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 50%
- Peak
- 1552
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 8 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Compare careers#1,692 of the rated field
- Contests
- 8
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 38%
- Peak
- 1552
Their last contest in the data was back in 2021, 3 years before NM/SS's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#1,701 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1560
A longer road to the same neighbourhood — 9 contests to 5.
⚔ Compare careers#1,689 of the rated field
- Contests
- 11
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 64%
- Peak
- 1553
Level with NM/SS on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#1,695 of the rated field
- Contests
- 12
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1564
12 contests and no Grand Championship yet — a rating made of 33% top-10 finishes rather than wins.
⚔ Compare careers#1,700 of the rated field
- Contests
- 12
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1555
They were already cooking in 2013, 7 years before NM/SS's first contest.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELITE BBQ SMOKERS | 5 | 5 | 0 | 100% | ⚔ compare |
| Uncle Dubby's Backyard BBQ | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80% | ⚔ compare |
| Bowmans Butt & BBQ | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80% | ⚔ compare |
| ROOTERS-N-TOOTERS TN | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
| WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ | 5 | 2 | 2 | 40% | ⚔ compare |
| MUTTLEY CREW BBQ | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 173.7028 | 165.6916 | 168.89 | top 26% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 173.1200 | 163.9544 | 167.39 | top 22% |
| Pork | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 164.5372 | 155.9312 | 159.38 | top 33% |
“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) | 2 | 0 | top 40% |
| Medium (20–39) | 3 | 0 | top 18% |
More numbers
Busiest season
2020
4 contests
Contests a season
2.5
across 2 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
VA
4 of 5 contests · 2 states in all
Contests visited
5
a different one every time
Opponents faced
111
finished ahead 156 times, behind 52
Longest layoff
3.8 yrs
Oct 30, 2020 → Aug 30, 2024
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20242 milestones
- Peak power rating (1552) Fire in the Foothills BBQ Festival
- Most recent contest Fire in the Foothills BBQ Festival
20207 milestones
- First tracked contest BBQ WYTHE US DAY 1
- First call BBQ WYTHE US DAY 1
- First overall top-10 BBQ WYTHE US DAY 1
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score330.2060 BBQ WYTHE US DAY 1
- First category win (Chicken) The Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q
- Career-best overall score500.4912 The Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q
- Career-best single call (Chicken)173.7028 The Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +16.6 | The Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q | Oct 29, 2020 |
| +11.6 | Fire in the Foothills BBQ Festival | Aug 30, 2024 |
| +11.2 | Zom-B-Q | Oct 30, 2020 |
| +11 | BBQ WYTHE US DAY 1 | Aug 7, 2020 |
| +2 | BBQ WYTHE US DAY 2 | Aug 8, 2020 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 18% | 93% | 93% |
| 2020 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 100% | top 29% | 94.1% | 92.7% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 30, 2024 | Fire in the Foothills BBQ Festival 🏅 King, NC | 5 / 28 (334.7656) | 6 (169.6800) | 6 (165.0856) | 10 (155.9312) | — |
| Oct 30, 2020 | Zom-B-Q 🏅 Wytheville, VA | 8 / 33 (499.3256) | 8 (169.1084) | 8 (165.6800) | 9 (164.5372) | — |
| Oct 29, 2020 | The Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q 🏅 Wytheville, VA | 4 / 33 (500.4912) | 1 (173.7028) | 7 (169.1084) | 12 (157.6800) | — |
| Aug 8, 2020 | BBQ WYTHE US DAY 2 🏅 Wythe, VA | 9 / 17 (338.8116) | 9 (165.6916) | 3 (173.1200) | — | — |
| Aug 7, 2020 | BBQ WYTHE US DAY 1 🏅 Wythe, VA | 5 / 19 (330.2060) | 5 (166.2516) | 5 (163.9544) | — | — |