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Australians Mitch Wishnowsky and James Smith have missed on US college football's award for punting.

Australia's stranglehold on US college punting's top prize has been broken with an American winning this year's Ray Guy Award.

Australian punters have won the award the previous five years and appeared headed for a sixth with Perth's Mitch Wishnowsky, punting for the University of Utah, and Wangaratta's James Smith, for the University of Cincinnati, among the three finalists.

During a ceremony at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, the lone American finalist, Texas A&M's Braden Mann, was the victor.

Sydney's Michael Dickson won the Ray Guy Award last year punting for the University of Texas and was snapped up by the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Draft.

Wishnowsky won the award in 2016, Melbourne's Tom Hackett claimed it in 2014 and 2015 also punting for the University of Utah.

Geelong's Tom Hornsey was victorious in 2013 for his punting at the University of Memphis.

The punting pipeline that turns Australian rules players into elite punters has largely been created by Nathan Chapman's Melbourne-based Prokick Australia program.