Chad Bach has wasted little time making a name for himself at Portland State.

A redshirt freshman this fall, Bach, a former all-state lineman at Bend’s Mountain View High School, is battling for the Vikings’ starting spot at left guard. Listed as 6 feet 3 and 290 pounds, he impressed Portland State coaches enough last season that he traveled with the team on the road and would have had his redshirt pulled if an injury to another lineman would have made it necessary.

Bach, who helped the Cougars to the Class 5A state title in 2011 as a junior, looks to fill one of two open spots in the Vikings’ offensive line, a unit that helped Portland State average 34.9 points and 540.5 yards per game in 2013.

“The speed of the college game, it’s so much faster and there’s so much going on,” Bach says about the biggest adjustment from playing in the Intermountain Conference to NCAA Division I football. “It’s almost like it’s a different sport.”

While at Mountain View, Bach was named to the all-state second team as an offensive lineman in his junior year after the Cougars’ title run. As a senior, he earned first-team honors on offense and second-team recognition as a defensive lineman while helping lead the Cougars to the 5A quarterfinals. After playing at 260 pounds in high school, Bach came into Portland State’s 2013 fall camp at 270. He has since put on another 20 pounds.

“It’s all part of the process,” said Bach, nicknamed “Texas” by his high school teammates, about bulking up to play college football. (He and his family moved to Bend from the Lone Star State.) “Converting fat to muscle, that’s the big deal.”

Bach and the Vikings, who compete in the Big Sky Conference at the Football Championship Subdivision level, hope to improve upon last year’s 6-6 overall record. Portland State, which went 3-5 in the Big Sky, returns 14 starters from 2013. The Vikings, who open the season Aug. 30 at Oregon State, set a school record by averaging 540.5 yards of offense per game, but they gave up 430 yards per contest. Portland State struggled in close games last season, losing four conference games by a total of 16 points.

“Last year the little things killed us,” Bach says. “A dropped pass here, a fumble here, a big play given up there. … Just like every team, we’ve got to focus on finishing.”

The Vikings have a brutal early-season schedule, playing Pac-12 foes Oregon State and Washington State on the road in two of their first three games. Big Sky play for PSU begins on Sept. 20 with a home game against Cal Poly.

“We’re just trying to keep making improvements to what we’re doing,” Bach says. “Every single day we’re improving on the little things.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0305; beastes@bendbulletin.com.