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College football 2016: Independents preview

Sixth in an 11-part series. Read previous entries on the AAC, C-USA, MAC and Mountain West and the Sun Belt.

Even as all eyes remain glued to Notre Dame’s ongoing quarterback competition, the Fighting Irish enter fall camp focused on the two positive developments to come from last season.

One: That the Irish are talented enough — quick enough, fast enough, physical enough — to hang with and defeat any team in college football. That was not the case through Brian Kelly’s first handful of seasons; take note of the way Alabama decimated a previously undefeated Notre Dame team in the Orange Bowl to claim the 2012 national championship.