Exeter's stance seems strange to me. Surely they would want to attract the best candidates but by offering those candidates high offers, they are pushing them away. They must know the unis they are competing with for the top students and by giving offers that are higher than those unis then they are completely pricing themselves out of the market. Unless they just don't want to be used as an insurance by the top candidates but they are not giving themselves any hope of attracting the best students.
Completely different approach to say Birmingham who give out unconditionals to try and attract the top students by making their life easier