ECU's struggles are well documented but as recently as 2016, with a 33-30 victory over rival North Carolina State on September 9, 2016, ECU became the first "Non-Power" program to defeat a single "Power Conference" (vs. ACC) six-consecutive times from 2013–16, thereby breaking a four-way tie with TCU (vs. BIG XII), Boise State (vs. PAC-12), and BYU (vs. PAC-12) all of which each had previously established five-game winning streaks against a single "Power Conference." ECU defeated regional rivals Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and North Carolina State two-consecutive times each respectively during the Pirates' six-game winning streak against the ACC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Carol...AA_records

Consistently, year in and year out, top to bottom, AAC = ACC - Clemson. This year was just the 1st year where AAC > ACC (even including Clemson).