The USC football program has reportedly dismissed defensive coordinator Alex Grinch after a 52-42 loss to the Washington Huskies on Saturday that resulted in the Trojans dropping to 7-3, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.

The play of the USC defense has been a big topic this season for Lincoln Riley's football program, and the unit is seen as the Achilles heel of a team that has arguably the best quarterback in college football in Caleb Williams.

Caleb Williams and the USC offense has put up 30 or more points in all but one game this season, which was the loss to Notre Dame on the road in which Williams committed multiple turnovers. The defensive play has unarguably been at fault for the losses to Utah and Washington this season, and even gave up 49 points to a weak Cal team the week before.

Alex Grinch has been with Lincoln Riley since their days together at the Oklahoma football program, then he came over with him to USC. The defensive play was not good enough, and many fans view that the two years the program had with Williams will have been a waste.

The Trojans are at 5-2 in the Pac-12, and has two games remaining against Oregon and UCLA. There is a chance the program can still make the Pac-12 championship, but it will take a big upset against Oregon next week. College Football Playoff hopes are all but finished after the loss to Washington.

It will be interesting to see how the USC defense performs over the next few weeks, and who is the long-term replacement that Riley eventually chooses.