College
Jones went to the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where he played for LSU's football team. He was also a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity (Gamma chapter). While at LSU, Jones only started two games prior to the end of his junior year, but he started every game after that, leading LSU to a 12-2-1 record. During his senior year (1972), LSU went 9-2-1. Except for one week, LSU spent that entire season ranked in the AP Top 10. That year, Jones became the first quarterback in LSU history to be awarded consensus All-American honors. Jones also finished 4th in the vote for the Heisman Trophy and was voted the National Collegiate Player of the Year by the Cleveland Touchdown Club.
One of Bert Jones' most famous moments came in the 1972 LSU-Ole Miss game, when he led LSU to a 17-16 last-second victory by hitting RB Brad Davis in the end zone for a touchdown as time expired. Jones's other major victories included #14 LSU's 28-8 victory over #7 Notre Dame in 1971 (televised by ABC) and #8 LSU's 35-7 victory over #9 Auburn in 1972.
During his 17 games at LSU, Bert Jones completed 52.6 percent of his passes for 3,225 yards and 28 touchdowns, which at the time was the most career passing yards and touchdowns of any quarterback in LSU history.
In 1971, Jones threw for 945 yards with 9 TD vs 4 INT while splitting time with Paul Lyons. Lyons himself would throw for over 800 yards and 11 TD that year. In 1972 after taking over command at QB, Jones threw for 1,446 yards with 14 TD vs 7 INT on 199 pass attempts.
Against the wishes of LSU fans, Jones was forced to share quarterback duties with Lyons because of Jones' bickering with head coach Charlie McClendon over signal calling.
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