At the Benz School we did some center pieces a few years ago for a football luncheon. We made an A&M pick [of sorts] out of maroon and white pipe cleaners. If I remember correctly, we used 3 pipe cleaners per pick so we had enough to work with to create the letters and still have enough to get the right height and poke it into the foam.
It took us 2 days to make 50, but we got it done. They were cute! The cutouts would probably be easier, though.