Although Iowa State’s final three football opponents represent a definite drop in degree of difficulty (Colorado, Kansas and Missouri are a combined 15-14 this season), it’s not at all clear whether that change will allow the Cyclones to cross the goal line once in a while.

Only once has the trio of Austin Flynn, Cris Love and now Waye Terry been able to lead Iowa State to more than three scores in a football game.

All this turns out to be a problem (reflected in a 2-7 record) because ISU opponents have a nasty habit of scoring more than 21 points.

But with the Cyclones mired in their biggest scoring funk in more than a decade, let’s discover whether offense itself is overrated.

Winning, as coaches constantly feel pressured to remind us, comes when one team outscores the other. Some, though, take the stance that a back-and-forth high-scoring battle is “better” for fans than a defensive struggle. Is this true?

It seems it depends upon the sport.

Football: Offense is clearly pretty exciting. Witness the attitude of fans toward back-to-back Super Bowl winners St. Louis in January 2000 and Baltimore in 2001.

The Rams’ 23-16 win over Tennessee came in the first season of the “Greatest Show on Turf” behind Kurt Warner, while the Ravens’ 34-7 stomping of the New York Giants was done with defense — the Ravens allowed just 191 opponent points in 2000 while the Rams scored 526 points in 1999. Baltimore’s win, though, was widely regarded as ugly while the Rams’ fast-paced passing game was praised as revolutionary.

Closer to home, most Cyclone fans likely found more to enjoy in Troy Davis’ 2,000-yard seasons in 1995 and 1996 (when the Cyclones won just five games but averaged 24 and 28.5 points per game, respectively) than in this sinking ship of a season — a 16.6-points per game average that drops to 12.6 when you eliminate a 48-20 win over Ohio. The Cyclones incomplete passes (half of those thrown) are starting to make a metallic “clang” when they hit the ground, and 1-yard gains are now causes for celebration for the Cyclone team.

The verdict: More ISU offense. Please.

Basketball: The number of points scored isn’t important so much as a team’s shooting percentage. No matter how good the opposing defense, teams — especially professionals — should be able to find makeable shots, either with good passing or by sinking outside shots. But professional jump-shooting is bad — in the 2003 WNBA season, Detroit led the league by shooting 45 percent from the field, with 11 teams shooting in the high 30s and low 40s. Just three teams shot better than 35 percent from 3-point range.

And the NBA is little better — the young season has seen most teams shuffling along with shooting percentages in the low 40s. Only the Rockets, Kings and Clippers make more than 40 percent of their 3-point shots, and four teams shoot worse than 30 percent, including Boston’s horrific 25.8 percent.

At Iowa State, the Cyclone men have shot 46 percent each of the last two seasons — neither of which were great ones in terms of wins. The ISU women routinely approach 50 percent shooting, with last season being an aberration.

Yes, the 3-point line is closer; yes, the athletes are less talented. Neither makes it harder to sink wide-open shots.

Baseball: Offense has already been a topic of plenty of discussion in major league baseball — are there too many home runs and other laser-beam drives because of short fences, diluted pitching and muscular hitters? Should the pitching mound be raised and the designated hitter rule eliminated to make the game more fair?

Yes. Defense and pitching rule in baseball, and they’re exciting — witness Josh Beckett’s 2-0 clinching win in Game 6 of the World Series, or a May 31 Cubs win over the Astros — 16 innings, one run between the two teams, a Cubs win — not a boring game.

Soccer: What a lot of people fail to comprehend is that watching soccer for enjoyment is less about scoring than it is about scoring chances.

When teams keep their play in the middle of the field and fail to even challenge defenses and goalkeepers — that is boring. But a 0-0 game with plenty of buildups, saves and misfired shots is as compelling as any other sporting event.

These sports were chosen by virtue of being popular team sports (with soccer winning a close decision over hockey).

So, the result is a split decision — for offense in football and basketball, and for defense in baseball and soccer — and in the end, we’ve learned little about offense’s value.