I think that people underestimate the quality of football being played in the MAC (or the Sunbelt or C-USA for that matter). They shouldn't. These are scholarship athletes with talent. I don't know if there is a year that has gone by where at least one Big10 team hasn't lost to a MAC team. And look at how Arkansas must feel after losing to UL-Monroe?
Carder looks to be an NFL level QB. The MAC has produced a fair amount of them (Leftwich, Pennington, Roethlesberger, etc.). I'm not sure people give them their proper due respect...