I’m having a real hard time of thinking about the last Buckeye defense that was this good. Sure, I can point to Chase Young, the Bosa brothers, Darron Lee, Vonn Bell, Jeffrey Okuda, and the list goes on and on. But the 2024 defense doesn’t have a single hole in it, anywhere. Sure, Igbinosun is handsy. Sure, Burke had a rough go at Oregon. But collectively looking at the season as a whole, this defense is in the elite tier of defenses in Ohio State history. 
IMO, this is clearly the best defense since 2019, but asking me to pick between the two is a difficult task. Two defenses that went about things in completely different ways. 2019 loved playing cover 1 man and only rushed 4. They liked to believe that their guys were simply always better than the guys on the other side of the ball, and dared you to win one on one on the outside against Okudah and Arnette. Then you had The Eraser, Jordan Fuller, that was allowed to play CF and eliminate big plays from happening. The front 7 was loaded with current NFL guys: Chase, Davon, Cooper, Werner, and Harrison. I think that Tuf was quite the liability at the Mike, no offense to him, but the rest of the defense was outstanding. 
The 2024 defense with Jim Knowles is schematically so much more difficult to prepare for, as we saw Saturday. They play so many variables of coverages and really dictate how you play offensively. 
At this point in the season, I am taking the 2024 defense over 2019. If I’m being honest, the only player that I can emphatically say is definitely better is Chase Young over our current DEs, and in case you missed the game Saturday, they aren’t slouches, like at all. I like our combo of Simon and Styles just as much as Borland, Harrison, and Werner. And as wild as it is to think, the secondary this season is better than 2019, too. 
I think this is the best defensive group, maybe in my lifetime (38 years old). The memory starts getting foggy on those 90s teams, other than I know they were elite in 1998 and 1996. Maybe some of the older heads can educate me, because I remember, but I don’t remember THAT good. 
What do yall think?