Abby Lee Miller went on a bizarre tangent, claiming she's got a thing for high school football players in an interview that's raising plenty of eyebrows online.

57-year-old Abby took the odd stance on a recent episode of Sofia Franklyn's "Sofia with an F" podcast. At the very end of the show, the 2 started talking about Tom Cruise, causing Abby to bring up his 1983 flick, "All the Right Moves" about a HS football star.

Abby says those guys are her "downfall," claiming she's still into high school dudes today. Already a little odd, but Sofia notes that she's more into the coaches. Would be a great place to drop the conversation, right?

Well, Abby doubles down -- saying she isn't talkin' about guys that used to be in high school ... she means ones that are currently still in school.

It's a pretty wild thing to say, especially considering her former reality series, "Dance Moms," was all about running a studio full of kids ... and as you can imagine, she's been getting burnt online.

Many have been pointing out the obviously disgusting implications of her comment ... one person even pointed out, "The fact that she went back and clarified is crazy."

BTW, Abby's new show, "Mad House," begins airing at the end of September -- a series that takes young adult dancers and pins them against each other in the hopes of making it onto her team.