There is little break in the football action at the Shoop household in Danville.

Straight from watching his quarterback son, Andrew, pick apart Milton on Friday night, Gary Shoop got to watch his other favorite team, Penn State, pick apart tiny Coastal Carolina U. Not that he minded.

“I’ve been a Penn State fan since I came out of the womb, I guess you could say,” while tailgating right across from the players entrance at Beaver Stadium. As soon as I graduated from high school, I joined the Penn State Club. I’ve missed only two home games in the last 20-25 years.”

Even if the Nittany Lions weren’t assured of a victory, Shoop said he would still be there.

“I love football,” he said. “It does not matter who they play, I’m not a fair-weather fan.”

Being a fan also means getting to the stadium bright and early, eating, drinking and socializing.

“I was here at 7:30 (a.m.),” he said. “We always leave at the same time no matter what time the game starts. We leave Danville between 6 and 6:30 a.m.”

But the early start is not to beat the traffic.

“It’s reserved parking, but we just like to tailgate,” he said. “The whole atmosphere is great.”

That whole atmosphere has rubbed off on at least one of his children.

Erica Shoop, 23, has been coming to Penn State games since she was 2.

“I love it. I live for Penn State football Saturdays,” she said. “It was really cool growing up in this atmosphere.”

She still sports a “Daddy’s little Nittany Lion” t-shirt, in fact.

Then, she attended Penn State as a student.

“I went to college here,” she said. “It was a totally different experience in the student section. Even if I hadn’t grown up around Penn State football, being a student here would have made me fall in love with it anyway.”