The comeback
5.2 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 5.2 years, then back at 2024 Icebox Cookoff (2024-07-06).
- last seen 2019-04-26
- back 2024-07-06
Big Mike's BBQ
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1480
peak 1480 · rated over 4 contests ⓘ
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
2015-05-29
latest 2026-07-18
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
of 6 contests
Avg finish
top 72%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
621.55
last 3 Master vs avg 621.55 (+0.00)
Walk rate
17%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±35.60
std dev of Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 160.66 · weakest Brisket (144.32)
Road miles
3,439
mi across 6 mapped stops · furthest 1907 mi
Schedule strength
39%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1552)
Purse competed for
$40K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 3 state-championship entries
Master avg
621.55 / 720
3 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
482.24 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 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 (2 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 long haul
3,439
road miles between contests
Contest to contest, they've covered roughly 3,439 miles across 6 mapped stops — the longest single trip being 1,907 miles to Sutherlin Throwdown.
- 6 mapped stops
- furthest 1,907 mi
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.
Big Mike's BBQ 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 141 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.
#4098 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1480
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 7 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#4116 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1509
No shared contest yet.
They turned up 7 years after Big Mike's BBQ did, first appearing in 2022.
⚔ Head-to-head#4089 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1481
No shared contest yet.
Level with Big Mike's BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#4113 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1480
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#4119 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1501
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 9 years before Big Mike's BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#4114 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1480
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 10 years before Big Mike's BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 167.4056 | 149.1200 | 157.54 | top 75% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 168.5372 | 148.4916 | 160.66 | top 61% |
| Pork | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 168.6400 | 150.2400 | 160.27 | top 70% |
| Brisket | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 157.6572 | 123.9200 | 144.32 | top 93% |
“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.
The story so far (18 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
11.1 yrs
2015-05-29 → 2026-07-18
Busiest season
2026
1 contest
Contests a season
1
across 6 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
IN
3 of 6 contests · 3 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 Ribs
averages 160.66 · weakest Brisket (144.32)
Walk rate
17%
a top-10 call in 1 of 6 contests
Overall top-10 rate
17%
1 of 6 contests
Master average
621.55
out of 720 · 3 contests · 0 GCs
Backyard average
482.24
out of 360 · 1 contest · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
112
38–82 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
3,439
6 mapped stops · furthest 1,907 mi
Schedule strength
1552
average field rating faced — tougher than 39% of rated contests
Purse competed for
$40,400
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 3 state-championship entries
Longest layoff
5.2 yrs
2019-04-26 → 2024-07-06
Power rating
1480
peak 1480 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2015
- First tracked contest Carnivores Classic
- 2019
- First call Smokin For Garrett
- First overall top-10 Smokin For Garrett
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score482.2400 Smokin For Garrett
- Career-best single call (Pork)168.6400 Smokin For Garrett
- Peak power rating (1499) Smokin For Garrett
- 2026
- Career-best overall score652.9944 Sutherlin Throwdown
- Most recent contest Sutherlin Throwdown
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +13.1 | Smokin For Garrett | 2019-04-26 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -14.1 | 2024 Icebox Cookoff | 2024-07-06 |
| -13.9 | Carnivores Classic | 2015-05-29 |
| -4.8 | Sutherlin Throwdown | 2026-07-18 |
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)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 79% | 90.7% | 90.7% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 100% | 88.9% | 88.9% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 15% | 134% | 134% |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 95% | 79.4% | 79.4% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-18 | Sutherlin Throwdown 🏅 Sutherlin, OR | 23 / 29 (652.9944) | 20 (167.4056) | 20 (168.5372) | 26 (159.3944) | 24 (157.6572) |
| 2024-07-06 | 2024 Icebox Cookoff 🏅 Sweet Home, OR | 37 / 37 (639.8856) | 36 (157.1428) | 24 (168.5256) | 35 (162.8228) | 37 (151.3944) |
| 2019-04-26 | Smokin For Garrett 🏅 Boonville, IN | 4 / 26 (482.2400) | 10 (156.5028) | 8 (157.0972) | 3 (168.6400) | — |
| 2018-04-27 | *Smokin For Garrett Boonville, IN | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2017-06-02 | *Smokin For Garrett Boonville, IN | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2015-05-29 | Carnivores Classic Missoula, MT | 19 / 20 (571.7716) | 19 (149.1200) | 16 (148.4916) | 17 (150.2400) | 19 (123.9200) |