Because - much like for every other Southeastern Conference state except Kentucky and Missouri - it's always football time in Tennessee, it's never too early to consider next season, though that could also be considered this season now that Alabama has put the 2015 campaign to bed with its 16th national championship.
So just how good could the Clorox Orange be this coming autumn? Could Tennessee become one of four teams to reach the College Football Playoff? Could it win its first national title since 1998? Could it somehow face Clemson in some Clockwork Orange final, the Volunteers' pale orange shade challenging the Tigers' bright orange for No. 1?
And if that happened, if Georgia native and UT senior quarterback Josh Dobbs were to turn his considerable wheels loose against Georgia native and Clemson junior QB Deshaun Watson fresh off Watson's likely 2016 Heisman Trophy win, would the scoreboard explode?
Even with new defensive coordinator Bob Shoop expected to return UT to the defensive days of Gen. Robert Neyland - when the Vols gave up 14 points all of one season, all of those coming in a 14-0 loss to Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl at the end of the 1939 campaign - does anyone doubt a Clemson-UT playoff game could end 75-70?
We're a long way from that possibility today, of course. Tennessee will have to navigate a schedule that will include the Bizarro World of Bristol Motor Speedway for an early September game against Virginia Tech. It will have to face new Georgia coach Kirby Smart between the hedges. It will have to exorcise its two biggest demons - Alabama (nine straight losses) and Florida (11 straight defeats) - though both those games will be played inside Neyland Stadium.
Lastly, the Vols will have to avoid hiccups on dangerous road trips to South Carolina and Texas A&M. But that doesn't mean it's not doable, that this can't be the Year of the Vols, the season that coach Butch Jones perfectly fits that last brick into the wall.
There's also little doubt that Clemson, having piled up more than 500 yards of offense against big, bad Bama in Monday night's 45-40 title-game loss to the Crimson Tide, again should reach the playoffs if Watson stays healthy.
As for the others, I'll give a shaky nod to Stanford and the most serious threat to Watson's Heisman campaign - Cardinal running back/kick returner Christian McCaffrey - and Michigan, though either Baylor or Oklahoma could emerge from the Big 12.
But Tennessee should definitely be in that mix. After all, who had the Southeastern Conference's largest margin of victory during the bowl season? UT, which thumped Northwestern by 39 points (45-6). That also brings up another reason to like the Vols in 2016. Throw in what the Big Orange did to Iowa in the 2015 Taxslayer.com Bowl - which was the Hawkeyes' last loss until the Big Ten title game this season - and it's clear that Jones and Co. know how to prepare their team for the postseason. So if they make the CFP, look out.
This doesn't mean Alabama is still not the team to beat, despite big graduation losses and near-certain underclass defections to the NFL draft. The Tide reload far more than they rebuild under Nick Saban. But what if offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin catches the next bus out of Tuscaloosa after apparently missing the last bus out of the University of Phoenix Stadium in the wee small hours of Tuesday morning?
Say what you will of Kiffin, but the Tide reached the CFP both seasons he roamed the Bama sideline despite relying on unproven, unsung quarterbacks each year. The former Tennessee head coach is not only a terrific play caller, but he quite possibly does a better job of playing to his quarterback's strengths while masking his weaknesses than anybody in the sport. Volniacs need only look to the magic Kiffin worked in 2009 with quarterback Jonathan Crompton for proof.
Great as Saban is, finding a replacement for Kiffin (if he leaves) might be his most crucial recruit yet.
Yet UT also got the kind of news every playoff contender wishes Tuesday when linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin decided to return rather than enter the NFL draft. JRM is arguably the least appreciated great defensive player in college football. He almost certainly leads the nation in shoestring tackles. He's where would-be 20-yard gains go to die. Assuming Cam Sutton also returns, Shoop could oversee one of the top five defenses in college football.
Certainly it's awfully early to look this far ahead. Lord Saban won't gently loosen his stranglehold on college football. The entire SEC again will be a bloodbath, particularly if LSU can successfully scan the waiver wire to find some graduated senior quarterback with a year of eligibility left who's capable of taking some heat off regal running back Leonard Fournette.
Beyond that, someone again will come out of the Big 12 averaging 68 points a game, and the sentimental favorite of the national media will be McCaffrey and Stanford.
But when those little black rubber pellets that cover so many plastic grass fields today finally settle in December, expect the offenses and defenses of Tennessee and Clemson to have performed like Clockwork Orange on their way to a national championship game showdown.
At least expect that matchup as long as UT doesn't stub its toe at Texas A&M on the worrisome weekend of Oct. 8 that falls between Georgia (Oct. 1) and Alabama (Oct. 15). In that case, look for Stanford's McCaffrey to meet Clemson's Watson in the title game, with a Heisman recount demanded if whichever of the two didn't claim the little bronze statue rebounds to win the national championship.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.