Iowa was averaging 30 pts a game up and including the MSU game, and several of those games could have had higher scores, including v. MSU, who only has 1 B10 loss. We lose two guards (Gettis, McMahon) and our line play goes from good to not so good (for lack of better description) and all of a sudden KOK is a fish out of water (to use your phrase - but many others have been used to describe him). Keep in mind our line was pretty raw to start with given we lost 2 starters to the NFL, 1 who was a starter but got hurt v. MSU last year and would have made the NFL save his knee injuries, and a long time starter at center. You look at that and then look and see how the group played up through the MSU game and you have to be pretty impressed with the offense and also have to consider what really happened this year.
Injuries at positions we were too thin at to start with is where people should be looking if they are wanting to place 'blame'. Namely OL, LB and RB.