High-water mark
337.0860
career-best overall
93.6% of a perfect 360
Their best day on record: 337.0860 at Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest — 93.6% of a perfect 360.
- Backyard
- 2026-06-12
Muppets of Smoke
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1498
peak 1498 · rated over 4 contests ⓘ
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
2026-03-20
latest 2026-07-18
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 51%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
330.07
last 4 Backyard vs avg 330.07 (+0.00)
Walk rate
40%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±4.56
std dev of Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 168.68 · weakest Pork Ribs (160.54)
Road miles
385
mi across 5 mapped stops · furthest 184 mi
Schedule strength
67%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1584)
Purse competed for
$34K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 3 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
330.07 / 360
4 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here. Still inside their first twelve months: see what a first season usually looks like.
Storylines (5 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.
A tough matchup
4–0
behind in the head-to-head
Big Reds Backyard BBQ ahead in 100% of their meetings
Big Reds Backyard BBQ has come out ahead in 4 of their 4 shared contests.
The weak link
−8.1
points behind their best meat
Pork Ribs is where the weekend gets away from them — it averages 8.14 points below their chicken, and turns into a call 17% of the time against 25%.
- Pork Ribs avg 160.54
- Chicken avg 168.68
- 1 calls in 6 entries
A strong matchup
3–0
ahead in the head-to-head
Ahead in 100% of their meetings
They've finished ahead of BREWS BEFORE Q'S in 3 of their 3 shared contests.
Looking over their shoulder
2×
one call behind them
Osage Smokers has landed one call behind them 2 times.
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.
Muppets of Smoke 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 127 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.
#3297 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1514
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#3295 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1507
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Muppets of Smoke's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3285 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2016, 10 years before Muppets of Smoke's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-head#3288 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1509
No shared contest yet.
Level with Muppets of Smoke on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#3301 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1506
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 9 years before Muppets of Smoke's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3296 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1506
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 9 years before Muppets of Smoke'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 | 173.1200 | 165.6800 | 168.68 | top 45% |
| Pork Ribs | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 166.8456 | 150.8688 | 160.54 | top 52% |
| Pork | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| Brisket | 0 | 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.
Contest-by-contest record (recurring contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest (Day 2) | 2 | 14 | 0 | top 44% | 2026-07-18 |
The story so far (16 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
0.3 yrs
2026-03-20 → 2026-07-18
Busiest season
2026
4 contests
Contests a season
2.5
across 2 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
MO
4 of 5 contests · 2 states/provinces in all
Contests visited
3
1 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
6 entries · 0 wins · 1 calls
Strongest meat
Chicken
averages 168.68 · weakest Pork Ribs (160.54)
Walk rate
40%
a top-10 call in 2 of 5 contests
Overall top-10 rate
0%
0 of 5 contests
Backyard average
330.07
out of 360 · 4 contests · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
127
73–112 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
385
5 mapped stops · furthest 184 mi
Schedule strength
1584
average field rating faced — tougher than 67% of rated contests
Purse competed for
$34,090
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 3 state-championship entries
Power rating
1498
peak 1498 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2025
- First tracked contest Gladstone Smokefest (ONE MEAT RIBS)
- First call Gladstone Smokefest (ONE MEAT RIBS)
- 2026
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score330.2172 American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest
- Career-best overall score337.0860 Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- Career-best single call (Chicken)173.1200 Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- Peak power rating (1498) Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest (Day 2)
- Most recent contest Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest (Day 2)
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +5.4 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | 2026-06-12 |
| +1.5 | Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest (Day 2) | 2026-07-18 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -7.9 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | 2026-03-20 |
| -1.4 | Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest (Day 1) | 2026-07-17 |
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 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25% | top 51% | 93.6% | 91.7% |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-18 | Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest (Day 2) 🏅 Osceola, MO | 14 / 32 (328.5260) | 13 (166.2516) | 12 (162.2744) | — | — |
| 2026-07-17 | Smokin on the Osage BBQ Contest (Day 1) 🏅 Osceola, MO | 14 / 32 (324.4456) | 13 (169.6800) | 15 (154.7656) | — | — |
| 2026-06-12 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 13 / 36 (337.0860) | 7 (173.1200) | 14 (163.9660) | — | — |
| 2026-03-20 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest Kansas City, MO | 27 / 33 (330.2172) | 26 (165.6800) | 23 (164.5372) | — | — |
| 2025-10-03 | Gladstone Smokefest (ONE MEAT RIBS) Gladstone, MO | — | — | 4 (166.8456) | — | — |