It’s arguably time for Oregon head coach Dan Lanning to make tough decisions after a less-than-ideal start to the college football season, and serious questions continue to swirl around the program after yet another stinging defeat. Oregon was beaten 17-15 by UCLA, a result which perhaps few saw coming.

Analyst John Middlekauff is the latest to point fingers at the program, suggesting Oregon’s team chemistry and unity are questionable as the players head to the field.

“When I have watched them this year, they feel like a team that doesn’t really like each other”, Middlekauff said in his “3 and Out” podcast. “Sometimes it’s like, did they practice? It felt like that loss (against UCLA) kinda put everything under a microscope…especially in an industry where once a week you find out, have you been doing the right things? Have you been putting in the work? You guys have good team chemistry?”

“Dan Lanning’s a guy, lost a lot of big games…they’re probably not gonna go to the playoffs this year.”

Dan Lanning On the Noise Outside the Oregon Program

Speaking to the media on Monday, Dan Lanning admitted that perhaps all the noise outside the program might be getting to his players.

“It’s hard. I think it’s easier for me as a 40-year-old to ignore the noise. I think that’s hard as an 18- to 22-year-old to ignore it, especially when your phone pops off, notifications, your name gets mentioned again, and it’s something I think that’ll be more and more important as we continue to coach here,” Lanning said, as reported by the Ducks Wire.

Lanning noted that the noise will only get tougher to negotiate for his players as time goes on.

“That’s only going to get harder in today’s age. So you educate, you do the best you can, but to acknowledge that that doesn’t always happen, that’s a reality. What I think our players-they’ve probably learned some hard lessons this year because of that. I can’t take everybody’s phone when they show up in the building. They can’t check out with me. There are a lot of voices that they’re going to hear.”

Lanning’s players will have to shut out the noise as they take on Nebraska on Saturday.