Michigan Has Always Needed Generational Talent To Win Titles

Following up on the question Michael Spath recently asked, history says Michigan has always needed generational talent to win titles.

Following up on the question Michael Spath recently asked, history says Michigan has always needed generational talent on offense to win titles. 

Spath asked this question in the context of the Wolverines finally winning their first Big Ten title under Jim Harbaugh, or making the College Football Playoff for the first time. However, looking back history tells us this has always been the case for Michigan. Check out this list of Big Ten titles Michigan has won since 1976:

1976: Rick Leach, Rob Lytle 
1977: Rick Leach
1978: Rick Leach 
1980: Anthony Carter 
1982: Anthony Carter 
1986: Jim Harbaugh
1988
1989
1990
1991: Desmond Howard 
1992: Tyrone Wheatley 
1997: Charles Woodson
1998
2000: Drew Henson, Anthony Thomas  
2003: Braylon Edwards, Chris Perry 
2004: Braylon Edwards, Mike Hart  

Since 1976, and I went back that far because that was the first year Michigan won the Big Ten after the conference permitted more than one team to play in the postseason, the Wolverines have won 16 league championships. And in all but four of those seasons Michigan was carried by at least one generational talent on the offensive side of the ball. 

However, even those four seasons the Wolverines weren't riding an obvious generation talent also bolster the trend. 

In 1988, Tony Boles finished with the third-best single-season rushing total in school history at the time. He was joined in a stellar backfield by Leroy Hoard, who went to be MVP of the Rose Bowl, as well as a long and successful pro career. The starting wide receivers, Greg McMurtry and Chris Calloway, also played several seasons in the NFL. That same crew carried the 1989 title team, too. 

Desmond Howard was a year from one of the greatest seasons by a wide receiver in college football history, on his way to winning the 1991 Heisman Trophy. But in 1990 he was still outstanding with 11 touchdown receptions. The most ever by any Wolverine not named Anthony Carter at the time. 

And then the 1998 team featured Tom Brady and Anthony Thomas before they fully blossomed. Brady didn't really begin to bloom until late in that season, and Thomas was inconsistent as a sophomore. But Brady went on to become the greatest quarterback in NFL history, while Thomas left school as Michigan's all-time leading rusher until Mike Hart. 

The question now becomes whether we can project any of the current Wolverines to become such a generational talent next fall. History says it's unlikely Harbaugh can finally get over the hump without it.