actually, is to be cautious in buying into hype for a local team, especially one that lost 4 of its last 6 games the year before. Also, to start being a bit more objective in its evaluation of the strength of the conferences in which its local teams play (e.g. Pac 12 was clearly not as strong as the SLC media thought, and the Big 12 is clearly not as weak as they thought).

Also, don't "guarantee" your sports predictions. That almost never ends well.