ATLANTA -- Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer must be wondering if his Hokies will ever win two straight bowl games.

In a second-half meltdown ignited by quarterback Sean Glennon's four fourth-quarter turnovers, 14th-ranked Tech squandered an 18-point halftime lead and lost 31-24 to unranked Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

"Not very Virginia Tech-like," Beamer said. "It's hard to win against a good football team when we turn it over like we did."

Before Saturday, Tech had been 143-14-1 under Beamer in games in which it led after three quarters. It was the biggest blown lead by a Hokies football team since they blew a 29-7 halftime lead in a 1998 home loss to Virginia.

The loss snapped the Hokies' six-game winning streak, which could have put them in the top 10 in the final polls for a third straight year.

At halftime, Tech (10-3) appeared to be well on its way to winning consecutive bowl games for the first time. The Hokies led 21-3 at intermission with a defense that looked impenetrable.

Glennon, whose ability to not give up the ball had been key to his team's six-game run, then totally unraveled in front of a Georgia Dome record throng of 75,406 fans.

After Georgia closed to 21-6 on a 51-yard field goal by Brandon Couto early with 6:10 left in the third quarter, the Bulldogs recovered an onside kick at their own 48. It was the Bulldogs' first successful onside kick since 2000.

Six plays later, freshman quarterback Matthew Stafford hit Martrez Milner for a 6-yard touchdown pass that made it 21-13.

Glennon then threw the first of his three final-period interceptions. The first of two picks by linebacker Tony Taylor gave the ball to Georgia at the Tech 43. A 41-yard completion from Stafford to Milner past Tech rover Aaron Rouse took the ball to the Tech 2-yard line and Kregg Lumpkin later scored on a 3-yard run off misdirection to make it 23-21. Stafford hit Milner for the two-point conversion that tied the game with 12:39 left.

On Tech's next series, Glennon was blind-sided by Georgia end Charles Johnson and fumbled the ball at the Hokies 19.

"The guy came out of the corner and hit Sean right in the back," Beamer said. "That looked like Georgia Tech to me."

The Tech defense, which was playing without injured standouts Noland Burchette and Brandon Flowers, held the Bulldogs out of the end zone. Coutu's third field goal of the night -- from 28 yards -- put UGA ahead for good at 24-21 with 10:42 left.

Glennon was picked off seconds later on Tech's next possession. Glennon, who was 14-for-27 passing for 147 yards, had a pass tipped by Taylor. The ball deflected into the hand of Paul Oliver, who returned it 15 yards to the Hokies 1.

Beamer said the play happened as a result of a corner blitz that the Hokies failed to stop.

"By the 13th game, we should be able to handle things like that," Beamer said.

Brannan Southerland bowled into the end zone two plays later to give the Bulldogs a 31-21 lead.

"It kind of left me speechless," Tech offensive lineman Duane Brown said. "Everything kept going downhill. We started to fall apart after a while."

Said Glennon of what was by far his most miserable quarter of the season: "I'm not going to forget this feeling."

The Hokies, who had been outscored 28-0 at that point in the second half, cut it to 31-24 on Brandon Pace's 28-yard field goal with 3:41 left in the game. After an unsuccessful onside kick attempt, Tech held UGa's offense and forced a punt. The Hokies got the ball back with 1:25 left, but Glennon completed only one of three passes for minus-1 yard and was sacked on the other play to end the series at the Tech 15.

"We helped them," Beamer said. "When we lost the two games, Boston College and Georgia Tech, we turned the ball over and we lost tonight because we turned the ball over."

After Georgia drove 45 yards on its first possession of the game for a 39-yard field goal by Coutu, Tech dominated the rest of the first half.

Set up by Brenden Hill's diving interception at the Georgia 17, the Hokies took a 7-3 lead on Branden Ore's 1-yard TD run.

After Tech's defense sent Georgia three and out, Eddie Royal returned a punt 54 yards to the Bulldogs' 30. Eight plays later, Ore scored on another 1-yard TD.

The officials on the field ruled no score, but the play was overturned by the replay official who correctly ruled that Ore broke the plane to the end zone by extending the ball with his outstretched arms.

The Hokies made it 21-3 with 4:36 left in the half when Royal caught an overhand pass behind the line of the scrimmage from Glennon, then raised up and hit wide-open tight end Sam Wheeler for a 53-yard TD play.

The three-TD salvo in a span of 9:31 gave Tech an 18-point halftime lead. And with their defense holding the Bulldogs to 140 total yards, the Hokies looked like a cinch winner.

Burchette, playing his final game in a Tech uniform, missed the final two quarters with a broken left arm. Flowers, a first-team All-ACC cornerback, left the game midway through the third quarter with a sprained right ankle and walked off the field at the end of the game on crutches.