Shortly after winning last year's presidential election, Barack Obama said he was going to ''to throw my weight around a little bit'' to nudge college football's Bowl Championship Series to move to a playoff system.

On Wednesday, Sen. Orrin Hatch took him up on that.

Hatch asked the president to launch a Justice Department investigation into the way the BCS -- a complex system of computer rankings and polls that often draws criticism -- crowns its national champion.

''Mr. President, as you have publicly stated on multiple occasions, the BCS system is in dire need of reform,'' Hatch, R-Utah, wrote in a 10-page letter, obtained by The Associated Press.

Hatch, who held a hearing on the BCS in July, told Obama that a ''strong case'' can be made that the BCS violates antitrust laws.