Hokies looking for improved play from secondary

The strategy works, too, Jarrett said. Other defensive leaders like linebacker Bruce Taylor have made sure they leave the disappointment behind them and come back knowing they can do the job.

"Everybody outside looking in would probably think our confidence level is down," Jarrett said. "But you have older guys like Bruce getting everybody together before practice and letting us know that we can't lower our head and we have to keep fighting and pretty much no more joking around.

"We all just have to attack in a different way than we was before."

They will also have to do it quickly against North Carolina's no-huddle spread offense, which is coming off a school-record 66-0 victory against Idaho and averaging 43.2 points. The Hokies have already played spread offense in Bowling Green and Cincinnati, and Jarrett thinks the pace will be fine.

"We thought Bowling Green's tempo was going to be really fast when they came out and Cincinnati's was pretty fast when they came out last week, and I felt like we kinda adjusted to it pretty well," he said. "When we practice, we practice fast-paced just so we can make sure we can prepare for anything."

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