Jughead's BBQ

At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)

Rating

1496

peak 1502 · rated over 4 contests ⓘ

Contests

in the data

First seen

2025-07-19

latest 2026-08-08

Best ToY finish

#154

Backyard 2026

Grand champs

0 reserve

Category wins

1 podiums

Overall top-10s

of 4 contests

Avg finish

top 59%

overall standings

Best overall

338.2744 / 360

Backyard · Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)

Perfect 180s

Current form

333.52

last 4 Backyard vs avg 333.52 (+0.00)

Walk rate

100%

contests with a top-10 call

Top-10 streak

and counting

Best single call

173.7144

Pork Ribs · Rockin' BBQ Warsaw, Indiana

Consistency

±4.61

std dev of Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)

Strongest meat

Pork Ribs

avg 169.28 · weakest Chicken (164.24)

Road miles

mi across 4 mapped stops · furthest 54 mi

Schedule strength

41%

of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1554)

Purse competed for

$13K

listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings

State championships

0 🏅

GCs in 1 state-championship entries

Backyard avg

333.52 / 360

4 Backyard contests · 0 GCs

This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.

⚔ Compare with another team

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.

High-water mark

338.2744 career-best overall

94.0% of a perfect 360

Their best day on record: 338.2744 at Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) — 94.0% of a perfect 360.

Backyard
2025-07-19

A tough matchup

3–0 behind in the head-to-head

BBQ MIKE ahead in 100% of their meetings

BBQ MIKE has come out ahead in 3 of their 3 shared contests.

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.

Jughead'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 122 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.

Grillers Anonymous

#3340 of the rated field

1497 ▲ 0 power rating

Contests: 5
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 20%
Peak: 1500

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.

rated over 5 contests
last seen 2026-08-28

⚔ Head-to-head

Paca Crew BBQ

#3366 of the rated field

1496 ▼ 0 power rating

Contests: 5
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 20%
Peak: 1507

No shared contest yet.

Level with Jughead's BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.

rated over 5 contests
last seen 2026-04-17

⚔ Head-to-head

Laytons backyard bbq

#3363 of the rated field

1496 ▼ 0 power rating

Contests: 5
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 20%
Peak: 1496

No shared contest yet.

Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Jughead's BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.

rated over 5 contests

⚔ Head-to-head

Slim D's

#3369 of the rated field

1496 ▼ 0 power rating

Contests: 5
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 0%
Peak: 1505

No shared contest yet.

They were already cooking in 2013, 12 years before Jughead's BBQ's first contest.

rated over 5 contests
last seen 2020-07-25

⚔ Head-to-head

Cloud 9 Swine

#3342 of the rated field

1497 ▲ 0 power rating

Contests: 5
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 20%
Peak: 1506

No shared contest yet.

Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 10 years before Jughead's BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.

rated over 5 contests

⚔ Head-to-head

No Butts About It!!

#3365 of the rated field

1496 ▼ 0 power rating

Contests: 5
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 0%
Peak: 1496

No shared contest yet.

Their last contest in the data was back in 2015, 11 years before Jughead's BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.

rated over 5 contests

⚔ Head-to-head

By meat

Category	Entries	Calls	Podiums	Best	Worst	Average	Avg finish
Chicken	4	2	0	169.6800	157.0744	164.24	top 60%
Pork Ribs	4	4	1	173.7144	163.3828	169.28	top 46%
Pork	0	0	0	—	—	—	—
Brisket	0	0	0	—	—	—	—

“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
IN	3	0	top 61%
MI	1	0	top 53%

By contest size

Field	Contests	GCs	Avg finish
Small (<20 teams)	3	0	top 71%
Medium (20–39)	1	0	top 23%

Contest-by-contest record (recurring contests they've cooked twice or more)

Contest	Visits	Best	GCs	Avg finish	Last visit
Smokin Downtown (BACKYARD ONLY)	2	10	0	top 80%	2026-08-08

The story so far (17 numbers that describe this team)

On the trail 1.1 yrs 2025-07-19 → 2026-08-08

Busiest season 2026 2 contests

Contests a season 2 across 2 seasons in the data

Cooks most in IN 3 of 4 contests · 2 states/provinces in all

Contests visited 3 1 of them cooked more than once

Most-entered meat Chicken 4 entries · 0 wins · 2 calls

Strongest meat Pork Ribs averages 169.28 · weakest Chicken (164.24)

Walk rate 100% a top-10 call in 4 of 4 contests

Overall top-10 rate 75% 3 of 4 contests

Best top-10 run 2 straight contests — and still running

Backyard average 333.52 out of 360 · 4 contests · 0 GCs

Opponents faced 72 44–45 across every shared overall standing

Road miles 57 4 mapped stops · furthest 54 mi

Schedule strength 1554 average field rating faced — tougher than 41% of rated contests

Purse competed for $12,500 listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings

State championships 0 from 1 state-championship entries

Power rating 1496 peak 1502 · #null of 6,413 rated

Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)

2025
Jul 19 First tracked contest Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
Jul 19 First call Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
Jul 19 First overall top-10 Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
Jul 19 First overall past 90% of a perfect score338.2744 Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
Jul 19 Career-best overall score338.2744 Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)
2026
May 15 Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)173.7144 Rockin' BBQ Warsaw, Indiana
May 15 Peak power rating (1502) Rockin' BBQ Warsaw, Indiana
Aug 8 Most recent contest Smokin Downtown (BACKYARD ONLY)

Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)

📈 Biggest rating jumps

Swing	Contest	Date
+9.6	Rockin' BBQ Warsaw, Indiana	2026-05-15
+1.5	Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY)	2025-07-19

📉 Toughest weekends

Swing	Contest	Date
-8.9	Smokin Downtown (BACKYARD ONLY)	2025-08-09
-5.7	Smokin Downtown (BACKYARD ONLY)	2026-08-08

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	2	0	2	0	100%	top 50%	93.5%	93%
2025	2	0	1	0	100%	top 68%	94%	92.3%

Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)

Date	Event	Overall	Chicken	Ribs	Pork	Brisket
2026-08-08	Smokin Downtown (BACKYARD ONLY) Warsaw, IN	10 / 13 (333.0628)	6 (169.6800)	10 (163.3828)	—	—
2026-05-15	Rockin' BBQ Warsaw, Indiana 🏅 Warsaw, IN	8 / 35 (336.5144)	10 (162.8000)	2 (173.7144)	—	—
2025-08-09	Smokin Downtown (BACKYARD ONLY) Warsaw, IN	15 / 18 (326.2172)	18 (157.0744)	9 (169.1428)	—	—
2025-07-19	Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Dowagiac, MI	9 / 17 (338.2744)	11 (167.4056)	9 (170.8688)	—	—

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
2026 ↗	Backyard	#154 (244 pts)	#157 (264 pts)	#132 (349 pts)	—	—