MySQL Engine vs. Charset

Question

I am attempting to have my plugin create a new table. I am fairly new to SQL. I have found two different method for creating tables:

Method I

$table_name = $wpdb->prefix . 'cool_table';
$sql = "CREATE TABLE $table_name (
    [command to set up columns go here]
    ) DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;";

Method II

if ( ! empty($wpdb->charset) )
    $charset_collate = "DEFAULT CHARACTER SET $wpdb->charset";
if ( ! empty($wpdb->collate) )
    $charset_collate .= " COLLATE $wpdb->collate";

$table_name = $wpdb->prefix . 'cool_table';

$sql = "CREATE TABLE $table_name (
    [command to set up columns go here]
    ) ENGINE = InnoDB {$charset_collate};";

What is the benefit of setting the default charset vs. setting the ENGINE when creating a new table?