"The mind-set of everyone here was that you can't think about anything but the next game. That's not tough for Joe," Keeler says, "because he doesn't really think beyond anything other than what's right in front him."
Delaware won a heated home game over Delaware State and then surprised many by winning two straight on the road.
In the quarterfinal round, it faced top-seeded and undefeated Northern Iowa. The game was played in a dome with nearly 16,000 screaming fans making sure Flacco couldn't even hear himself think. To call audibles, Flacco had to walk to each lineman and yell into the ear hole of his helmet.
"It was just ridiculous," said Kheon Hendricks, Flacco's center on that team, a Woodlawn graduate who just completed his senior season at Delaware. "We had to look to leaders like Joe. We wasn't rattled.
"Joe's poise gave us all confidence."
Flacco completed 25 of 45 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns that day. He ran for a score, and Delaware overcame a 10-point deficit to win, 39-27.
The Blue Hens then traveled to Southern Illinois, where another rowdy crowd awaited, plus an ESPN crew televising the game across the country. The pressure never shook the quarterback. Flacco was 21-for-38 for 243 yards and two touchdowns, and the Blue Hens again overcame a 10-point deficit to win, 20-17.
In the championship, despite Flacco's 336 yards on 23-for-48 passing, Delaware lost to Appalachian State, 49-21.
"He was amazing through the whole thing," Keeler said. "I mean, we slept in our own beds only six of 16 nights. We had finals to juggle."
Just as you're seeing now, Joe has lived through moments when there is a lot going on at once, when there is pressure and expectations. He just doesn't get distracted.
"Last year might have helped him prepare for this, but it's also his mentality - which I attribute in part to his family, but another part is just in his DNA," Keeler said. "Joe's not afraid to fail. It's not going to crush him if he fails. He knows he puts everything into it, and he gives it his all."
Flacco was asked last week about the difference between college playoffs and the NFL playoffs. His response was telling, though not surprising.
"I guess it's a little bit different in the amount of people that are going to be seeing the game," he said. "But for you as a player, last year at this time, there were pretty big stakes when I was playing the semifinals and when I played in the finals of the I-AA playoff. ...That game was important. This year, it's this game. I'm not going to approach it any differently. I understand the scale is a little bit bigger, but it's still a football game."
Legend has it that Poe stayed in Newark in December 1843 at the Deer Park Tavern. Climbing from a carriage, Poe fell into the mud, became enraged and put a curse on the place.
Neither Poe nor Flacco was born in Newark. Chances are, the tiny college town played little to no role in the creation of "The Raven." But 165 years later, Newark has undoubtedly proved to be essential to the rebirth of the Ravens.
