The comeback
5 yrs
off the trail, then back
Off the trail for 5 years, then back at Iowa State BBQ Championship (Mar 29, 2024).
- last seen Mar 22, 2019
- back Mar 29, 2024
River Rats BBQ
River Rats BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2019 and 2024. Their best overall finish is 25th of 48 at the Hammond BBQ (2019). They finished #373 in the 2024 Backyard Series Team of the Year standings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1489
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 2
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Mar 22, 2019
latest Mar 29, 2024 · 5 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
0% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 81%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
0%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 153.13 · weakest Chicken (135.66)
Road miles
794
across 5 mapped stops · furthest 789 mi
Purse competed for
$24K
listed at 2 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 2 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
288.78 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
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)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 ↗ | Backyard | #373 (60 pts) | #377 (60 pts) | #379 (60 pts) | — | — |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to River Rats BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
River Rats BBQ has 2 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 141 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#3,752 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1488
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to River Rats BBQ)
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team River Rats BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,731 of the rated field
- Contests
- 10
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1489
0–1 in 1 shared contest (0% to River Rats BBQ)
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 10 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Head-to-head#3,734 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1504
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#3,725 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1489
They were already cooking in 2014, 5 years before River Rats BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#3,742 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1489
Their last contest in the data was back in 2021, 3 years before River Rats BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,749 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1511
Level with River Rats BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 143.3944 | 127.9200 | 135.66 | top 88% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 154.8344 | 151.4168 | 153.13 | top 67% |
“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
More numbers
Contests a season
1
across 5 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
LA
4 of 5 contests · 2 states in all
Contests visited
2
a different one every time
Opponents faced
174
finished ahead 39 times, behind 135
Longest layoff
5 yrs
Mar 22, 2019 → Mar 29, 2024
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20243 milestones
- Career-best overall score298.2288 Iowa State BBQ Championship
- Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)154.8344 Iowa State BBQ Championship
- Most recent contest Iowa State BBQ Championship
20141 milestone
- First tracked contest Hammond BBQ
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 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 110% | 82.8% | 82.8% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 52% | 77.6% | 77.6% |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 29, 2024 | Iowa State BBQ Championship 🏅 Altoona, IA | 46 / 42 (298.2288) | 47 (143.3944) | 42 (154.8344) | — | — |
| Mar 22, 2019 | Hammond BBQ 🏅 Hammond, LA | 25 / 48 (279.3368) | 31 (127.9200) | 16 (151.4168) | — | — |
| Mar 23, 2018 | Hammond BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mar 24, 2017 | Hammond BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mar 21, 2014 | Hammond BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |