Dan Wolken

USA TODAY Sports

Florida State is suspending quarterback Jameis Winston for the first half of its game Saturday vs. No. 24 Clemson in the wake of an obscene phrase he yelled in a public space Tuesday.

"As the university's most visible ambassadors, student-athletes at Florida State are expected to uphold at all times high standards of integrity and behavior that reflect well upon themselves, their families, coaches, teammates, the Department of Athletics and Florida State University," interim president Garnett Stokes and athletics director Stan Wilcox said in a statement. "Student-athletes are expected to act in a way that reflects dignity and respect for others.

"As a result of his comments yesterday, which were offensive and vulgar, Jameis Winston will undergo internal discipline and will be withheld from competition for the first half of the Clemson game."

Florida State is No. 1 in the Amway Coaches Poll. Fellow redshirt sophomore Sean Maguire is expected to start in Winston's place Saturday.

Winston, the Heisman Trophy winner last season, met with the media at midday Wednesday.

"First of all I just want to apologize to the university, to my coaches and to my teammates," he said. "I'm not a me person, but in that situation, that was a selfish act and that's not how you do things around here, so I really just want to apologize to my teammates because I've now made a selfish act for them and that's all.

"You've got to overcome adversity and that's one thing at Florida State we do ... and when I do get my opportunity to play I'm going to do anything I can. That's going to eat me up. I want to be out there on the field, but I did something so I have to accept my consequences and I'm going to apologize to my team. We're not going to think about negative things, we're going to think about moving forward and winning the game.

"I messed up and I have to accept the fact I did that. It eats me alive I did something like that. I can't carry myself that way and me and Sean, we're going to watch film and I'm going to try my best to put our team in a good chance to win this game."

Earlier Wednesday on the ACC coaches teleconference, Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher said of Winston's Tuesday action, "It was not a good decision," Fisher said. "You can't make certain statements that are derogatory or inflammatory to any person, race or gender. You have to understand that."

"You have to be very intelligent about what you say, (because) it matters."

Deadspin first reported the incident, citing several Tweets from witnesses. The obscenity is apparently a gag rooted in an Internet meme that has gone viral on college campuses.

The meme itself is representative of cultural ideals around sexual assault and rape, said Katherine Redmond Brown, founder of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes.

From anyone, the message is offensive, she said. Coming from Winston, it carries added weight.

"Women have to have a safe learning environment," Redmond Brown said. "Jameis Winston standing up in public yelling that does not make me feel like I'm in a safe learning environment. I'd feel like I'm in a hostile learning environment."

That learning environment is something that is being examined by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Florida State has been under Title IX investigation by OCR since April for its response to sexual assaults.

Under Title IX, sexual harassment and violence are considered forms of discrimination

While Winston's comment on Tuesday is separate from the school's ongoing investigation into the 2012 rape allegation, or the federal government's investigation of the school, it raises issues for the school beyond Winston shouting obscenities in public, Redmond Brown said.

"No matter what people want to believe, Jameis Winston is the leader of that football team. He is the representative of Florida State University right now. He is their investment. He is their marketing. He is their recruiting," she said. "The entire program hangs on Jameis Winston, and that's a really concerning thing for them right now.

"I believe that they're much more concerned about his visibility and about the image of Florida State at this point rather than about what it actually means for the women on campus."

Contributing: Rachel Axon