The Miami Hurricanes badly wanted to prove they could stop playing down to their opponents.

And for one half -- the most important half -- they finally did that on homecoming Saturday.

Their defense dominated. Their running back made a triumphant return. And their punt returner created a masterpiece.

Despite a flawed first half, the Hurricanes let loose with 28 second-half points to defeat Virginia 52-17 at Land Shark Stadium. The 16th-ranked Canes are 7-2 and off to their best start since 2005.

``It was an emotional game for me and the seniors who played in that game two years ago,'' UM coach Randy Shannon said, referring to Virginia's 48-0 throttling of Miami in the historic final game in the Orange Bowl. ``To see guys like Jason Fox, who were here the last time we played them, come out and play the way they did [Saturday] was unbelievable.''

Junior Matt Bosher, who had two punts blocked Saturday and kicked a 42-yard field goal, was one of several UM players that expressed relief.

``That loss against Virginia two years ago, it hurt us,'' Bosher said. ``It sat with us. Last year it was close, and we beat them in overtime. But we really needed to come home and do this in front of our home fans to show we've definitely grown over the past two years.

``We aren't where we were in the past, and we're playing our hearts out.''

A crowd of 48,350 watched the Canes (7-2, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) score the most points against a Football Bowl Subdivision team since their 52-7 victory against Duke in 2005. Their 515 yards of offense -- a career-high 152 of those by tailback Graig Cooper -- were the most since September 2006. Their defense kept the Cavaliers (3-6, 2-3) to a season-low 149 yards.

WORK OF MAGIC

And Thearon Collier's 60-yard punt return for a touchdown? A piece of magic without the conventional magician. Collier evaded seven defenders, at first running backward and then across the field, before a wall of UM blockers led him to the end zone. It broke a 10-10 tie with 1:17 left in the first quarter and gave the Hurricanes enough padding to maintain a 24-17 lead at halftime.

``He went out there and made a Devin Hester play,'' said UM quarterback Jacory Harris, who completed 18 of 31 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. ``I was happy to rest up some more and sit and let the defense go play its heart out.''

Six different Hurricanes scored in a game for the second time this season. Besides Collier's punt return, Miami had three rushing touchdowns (two by Damien Berry and one by Cooper) and three receiving touchdowns (Jimmy Graham, Leonard Hankerson and Kendal Thompkins).

Thirteen Hurricanes caught passes Saturday, including redshirt freshman Thompkins, who got his first touchdown reception from backup quarterback A.J. Highsmith with 3:34 left in the game. It was Highsmith's first touchdown pass.

Defensively, after allowing 555 yards the previous week at Wake Forest, UM gave up only 75 yards passing and 74 rushing. Filling in for injured starter Jameel Sewell, Marc Verica started his first game in a year for the Cavs. He was sacked twice.

The first half was not quite as easy for the Canes.

Three costly first-half turnovers by UM led to 17 points for the Cavaliers: two touchdowns and a field goal. Two of those turnovers were blocked punts -- the first one late in the first quarter by Terence Fells-Danzer and the second one coming late in the second by Trey Womack.

EARLY MISTAKES

UM's initial error was an interception thrown by Harris to begin his second drive. At first-and-10 from the Miami 45, Harris threw toward Aldarius Johnson, but the ball ended up in the arms of cornerback Ras-I Dowling. Dowling ran 49 yards to the UM 19-yard line. Four plays later, Robert Randolph's 34-yard field goal made it 3-3.

The Cavaliers took over on the UM 45-yard line after Fells-Danzer's block. They scored three plays later on a 34-yard run by fullback Rashawn Jackson to give the Cavs a 10-3 lead at 2:54 of the first quarter.

Later down 24-10, Virginia cut UM's lead to 24-17 when Womack's punt-block was scooped up by linebacker Bill Schautz and returned 20 yards for the score with 2:28 left in the first half.

But in the end, it was the second half that mattered most for the Hurricanes, the half that seemed to make the 48-0 loss more distant.

``The way we lost that game was so difficult,'' center A.J. Trump said. ``It took months of healing. We felt so bad, not only for us but for the fans. Coming back and letting them have a good time [Saturday] is a good feeling. We owed it to them.''