College football television analyst Terry Bowden thinks Nebraska hired the right man when it chose Bo Pelini to coach the Cornhuskers.
Bowden made his remarks Thursday afternoon prior to his presentation to the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce annual meeting.
"All of us who are analysts, football coaches and ex-coaches believe they got a real good man," Bowden said. "He's a man who is ready and perhaps was ready earlier. Nebraska is in for better days."
Bowden said he believes that the defense will show the quickest improvement because Pelini is a defensive coach. He said he thought that 90 percent of Nebraska's problems on defense were above the neck.
As Nebraska had losses and the defense stumbled, many of the defensive players simply lost confidence, he said.
The question of whether Nebraska returns to championship football hinges on the offense, Bowden said. He noted Nebraska won three national championships with a powerful option ground game.
After Tom Osborne and Frank Solich left, Bill Callahan's staff "tried another way."
Bowden said that Nebraska's offense actually did some good things under Callahan, but he said the question is where does the offense go from here.
Bowden asked whether it will return to the same ground game, which nobody really does in college football anymore, or whether Pelini and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson try to find a middle ground.
He noted that a lot of people are paying attention to the zone read offense operated by West Virginia and Oregon and other teams, and which Vince Young and Texas successfully ran to earn a national championship.
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