Michael Irvin says if Matt Patricia is telling the truth ... there's NOTHING in the world worse than being falsely accused of rape.
Irvin would know ... he was accused of sexually assaulting a 27-year-old woman in Florida hotel back in 2017. Irvin adamantly denied the allegations and prosecutors ultimately dropped the case.
Now, with Patricia denying all wrongdoing in his 1996 sexual assault case -- we asked Irvin for his thoughts.
"It's the worst thing in the world to have to go through when you are falsely accused of anything," Irvin said.